MY ENGLISH COMPETENCE 2010

the podcast     the composition

I have chosen these blog entries because I think that these ones are my best works in all courses.

For the oral is the podcast about a description of a person and the person who I described was my little sister called Emma. I like this one because I used a lot of new adjectives I had learnt like thin-skinned, naughty, bossy… Also because I talked about my sister and I know her fondly and I always like to speak about her in a good way. In my opinion the pronunciation was good and I didn’t speak so quickly so, I was fluent and not nervous.

About the best composition I have chosen the one about transgenic food because I recently had made this issue in biology – that’s what I want to study. So, that’s a question that I’m used to talking about and I have knowledge about it. I think that this composition is of a higher level than some others because this topic is difficult. There is a lot of scientific vocabulary and I have to express my opinion. The structure is well organized because first I explained a little what is food genetically modified and then I gave my opinion and I showed that some people were against it so, there were two points of view.

In these two works I can see the improvement of my English for these reasons and some more. Now we have finished one stage in our lives and maybe some people won’t do English anymore but as we could see on this course this language is very important so we don’t have to lose our ability of it. I want to continue learning and speaking English and I hope to go to England to improve it.

COMMENTS

http://xicodecalle.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-time-to-exams-for-us-and-for-this.html

http://ignasi93.blogspot.com/2011/05/lottery.html?showComment=1305984998726#c6633252616161484213

http://londontravelers.blogspot.com/2011/05/one-of-my-nightmare.html?showComment=1305985297139#c5991960481039494202

FINAL EVALUATION

I think that there’s an improvement in my level of English because when I started this year I had a good level but there were some tasks, like the opinion essay, that I found difficult but now it’s different. In my opinion that happens because I have improved my English in many ways and also I am more fluent in speaking and writing. If you have a look in my space, you will see this improvement. On first batxillerat as my level of English was lower, my compositions were worse, but it’s a good sign because it means that I have developed. You can see it on my first composition called Books and Films and the last one of this course that’s Teenagers and sex.

The differences are important because in the last composition the issue is more interesting and more attractive – it has a photo. About the content I also find that it’s better because only seeing the issue I know that it have more maturity than talk about books. Also, I have improved the structure because now I write in paragraphs. The text is richer in vocabulary as you see on the last one to talk about underage people I use adolescents, sometimes teenagers… I use new vocabulary that I have learnt in class like demonstrations, open-minded… I also have put linking words like; in my opinion, however… And I usually ask question which reflect a higher level.

Another aspect is that the last composition is longer than the first so, it means that I could make more mistakes but instead of doing it wrong, I do it better because I pay more attention to do things right. For example in verb tenses because it’s a bit difficult for people who don’t currently speak English, but I try to do as few mistakes as I can.

You can see this improvement in oral presentations too. Here you have the first one Oral presentation 1st batxillerat and the last one Oral presentation second batxillerat. Both presentations I was alone so, it made it more difficult because when you do it with partners you are less nervous.

On my last oral presentation the topic was about my research project. In my opinion it did it very well because it was the second time I did the presentation but the last one in English. It was a bit difficult because there was a lot of scientific vocabulary, but it was useful because these kinds of words make the oral richer. I used more links than in the first oral because in my first oral I didn’t knowe how to link each part. The ideas were organized better because on my last work, first I started with a little introduce and the objectives, then I spoke about the disease and finally I explained the conclusions. From my point of view, I was more fluent and less nervous. I have improved a lot on pronunciation.

Summarizing, my personal development in English is remarkable.

TEENAGERS AND SEX

Nowadays adolescents are very advanced for their age, in their attitude towards sex. Maybe because now we have freedom to talk about all things related to sex. Maybe because they have to adapt to society, they have to be cool. I say this because it seems that you are obligated to have relationships early, to be cool and not different. So society has an important influence over teenagers.

 Before, if you wanted to make love with somebody, you needed to marry him and stay with him forever because divorce wasn't approved yet. Now young people can live together, marriage is not so important and divorce is happening all the time. These days we are more liberal, we are "modern" people, but are we acting right?

I think that sometimes we have to be open-minded, for example in the case of abortion. A few months ago, the government approved the abortion law in Spain. This allows girls over sixteen to have an abortion, but if you are underage, you have to go accompanied with an adult.

In my opinion this a good law because now people have sexual relations too young and if the girl accidentally get pregnant, she will be able to chose to have the baby, or not. But what I find illogical is that you can go to pharmacies to get the morning-after pill at sixteen year or less! Where is the way to discourage them from having sex too early, if there are no bad consequences after?

 I think that if you have been irresponsible, you have to pay the consequences and your parents have to know it. Parents are the ones who will help us and advise us because they have all lived it, they have the experience and they always want our well-being.

However, there were demonstrations calling for the abolishment of this law because from some peoples´ point of view, abortion is the same as killing a person. Others think that, until some months it is not a baby, it's a foetus; it means that it isn’t living, it can't breathe, it can't love,… But from very early the foetus has a heart beat. Where we can lay down marker for consider live or not live?

MY CROOKED DAYS

What does the word day signify? A little word with strong meaning. There are people who live the day for the day, others don’t have time to enjoy it and there are some that prefer look forward in the days. But in this life there are a lot of days: glory days, thunder days, days of wine and roses, lucky days, summer days, beautiful days, heavy days, love days, crooked days…

The lasts ones are the days which you can’t escape. I think that all people sometimes have these days at least one time on their lives. I could define this day as the one that all your plans turn out against as you have foreseen so, on these “special” days, all things go wrong.

At the beginning of the day, you wake up, but you fall out of the bed or you fall downstairs. Then it turned out that you wanted to have a shower but the heater has broken so, there is no hot water. It hasn’t finished because when you get downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast, you realize that there’s no milk and no chocolate. Here is when you think that today you have woken up with the wrong foot and you haven’t get out yet.

 While you are walking down the street it starts to rain and as it happens, this crooked day you didn’t bring the umbrella. After arriving totally wet at school, comes another disaster- because the teacher tells you that you have failed an exam which you were supposed to get a good mark in. But that’s not all because just this day it seems that the world is against you. So, you have an argument with your best friend for a silly thing. Then your couple or your parents are the ones that pay for the consequences of your bad day.

What really hurts about these days is that you realize that people are too insincere so, you see how they really are. Although a crooked day is always a disaster, I find the positive aspects because mistakes are useful for learning. You don’t trip over a stone another time. Also, because you know that tomorrow the sun will raise again, because after a storm always arrive the calm, that tomorrow will be a different day….. a better day!

OSAMA BIN LADEN DEAD OR ALIVE?

Osama Bin laden who planned the terrible terrorist attack of September 11^th – destroying the Twin Towers and killing lots of Americans and he created the terrorist group Al qaeda.

Americans had been searching him for ages and it seems that they had find it a couple of ages ago because American soldiers built a reconstruction of the house where supposed to live Osama. So, they can practice their planned in real situations.

A few days later, Obama said: We had made justice, Osama Bin laden is dead! It appeared on all news and all people were talking about it.

But is it real? Because if you remember, some years ago on the Internet circulated some retouched photos by Photoshop of Osama Bin laden dead. Now they haven’t put out any photo because they said that the image of this person dead was really shocking – he had a shot on his head. But we don’t have any evidence to prove it!

It seems really strange that they through the dead body on the sea… It’s like excuses and excuses. They said that the DNA is his but we only have their word for this! Is he really dead? I’m not sure!

But in some way I think that it’s true because why has the president of USA lie to us? Maybe because doing this the Americans are satisfied or maybe because they have pact and in this way terrorist will finish in America.

18

Being an adolescent is a bit difficult because it is the age of changes, vulgarly called “the turkey age” (A name that I have never understood). But when you turn eighteen it is fabulous because you can start to achieve your driving license, except that you can go to jail – that’s the typical funny joke that people tell you when you are of age.

In my case, I’m doing that and I’m very satisfied. Now I have started to practice with the car in Girona. This is not a big city but there are many cars in circulation so, it makes driving more difficult. Another reason is there are people that seem like they haven’t driven in all their lives because they don’t respect the rules. In these situations is when I ask myself: Have they passed the driving test?

Before I did my first class, I was very nervous because I had taken my parents car sometimes but I wasn’t very good at it. In spite of this, when I drove with the driving school car for the first time I did it so well. I discovered that I loved to drive, for the moment, because all people say that the firsts months all is very nice but then you get bored and tired.

I hope that I can be a good driver and I don’t find it heavy because drive is very important. In my opinion it’s better to do it at lower ages because we can assimilate more concepts than elder people. 



THE DIALOGUE

Today I’m going to interview my grandfather because he and my uncle are the lasts farmers in my country.

Julie: I’m in Orchard to know how have changed the life of farmers. Hi Paul, are you ready to talk about your job?

Paul: Yes, my lovely grandson.

Julie: Can you imagine the world without any farm?

Paul: Definitely, I can’t because this job has a large history and…

Julie: And what?

Paul: You know, our ancestors also have been farmers, I’m farmer and your uncle is farmer.

Julie: So, It means that we have to continue with the traditions?

Paul: Yeah, in some way because I don’t want to force anybody to work as farmer because everybody have to do whatever they want in the future.

Julie: Umm… But it’s really difficult because mass society determines people.

Paul: Yeah, It’s exactly what I think! Now nobody wants to be farmer because society has made look with bad eyes this job.

Julie: Well so, it means that before it was…er…different?

Paul: Before!? Like in the good old days?

Julie: Yeah, come on way back and…

Paul: The Light ages of farmers! [Laughs] Remember, Julie, lots of people were farmers because before the way of life was different, now we live very superficial.

Julie: Yeah, that’s…

Paul: Going Bad!

Julie: Why grandpa?

Paul: Because we hardly have work. The State instead of support the autonomic agriculture, they prefer to pay less money and get foreign food.

Julie: Yeah…

Paul: So, this is one of the reasons that anybody wants to work as…er…a farmer.

Julie: Well…don’t get worried, you have to fight to change agriculture!

Paul: Mmm…now it’s very difficult to change people, we are too advanced

Julie: Yeah but you don’t have to loose your hope!

Paul: So…I’ll follow your advice.

Julie: A lot of thanks Paul, I hope you have enjoy the interview!



THE FIERCE ATTACK TO TRANSGENIC FOOD

Transgenic food is food that is genetically modified. Scientifics usually apply this technique to vegetables and fruit. This is very useful because food obtains more quality, the flavour is better, it lasts longer because this food is damp-proof, heat-resistant and also resistant to cold, saltiness, weedkillers, plagues... We also can change the appearance, but this is not important because it's only an external question.

 What has real importance is that maybe one day genetically modified food will have pharmacological substances, so this means a giant progress to science. If this can be true, who will benefit the most of this progress will be people of third world countries because there medicines are too expensive or don't arrive but if the "medicine" is inside an economic food, they will improve their live qualities and there will be fewer deaths.

 So, we have to see transgenic food as a thing in our favour, because it doesn't bring bad consequences. In spite of this, there are some people, like environmentalists that criticize it in all aspects but why? Because they only see the harmful consequences that in fact do not exist. They say that if we eat plants with chemical products resistant to herbicides and these kill the insects, these chemicals will also kill us- but they aren't conscious that the quantity of that substance is too little that it can't affect us.

 Also, I don't agree with their opinion because I'm sure that they don't know the progress I explained before about food with pharmacological substances. Nevertheless, I think that we have to introduce transgenic food but always with a limit neither too few or too many.

THE ENGLISH-TEACHING ROBOT

In South Korea, a country that employs a lot of people as English teachers,  they now have a plan to introduce a robot that is able to teach English.

Robots seem magnificent machines because we only have seen them in films and some in the true life, but there are giant differences between them. In this field they have advanced a lot, but also they have a lot to discover because the real robots are like toys and the ones that appear in movies seem like humans.

In some way these "intelligent" machines could improve lives, like robots that are able to help elderly people, but in other ways they can bring bad consequences for humans. I say this looking at the example of the English-speaking robot, because if they introduce it to schools, these robots will replace teachers and it will generate a lot of unemployment - not a good issue in these times.

In my opinion, a robot can't have the ability of people; a robot can't control the class! Imagine that the people in a class stand up and leave the class, the robot won't notice it. In this case, this type of robot, as its name indicate, is only a speaking machine because for me, as a student, I like to speak to teachers and share opinions, etc. but how a robot can transmit feelings? Nowadays it can't be so classes will be very superficial without laughs and emotion. Definitely, I'm against robots in the field of teaching, the knowledge of people can't be superseded by anything in the world. 

THE TERRIBLE UNEXPECTED DISASTERS

In past decades Japan has been a country advancing economically - especially in the field of technology. However, the economic crisis, that we are all suffering, had also affected them in the last couple of years.

However, they had to suffer even more. On March 2011 they were hit by a tsunami, followed by an earthquake. Villages were destroyed and many people died. On top of this their nuclear power stations cooling systems failed and the nuclear reactors started to melt down.

Areas had to be evacuated and people suffered nuclear fall out. With all this, lots of people lost their houses, family and work. All over the world people remembered Chernobyl. How will the people of Japan recover?

Nuclear power was supposed to be the energy of the future. Fossil fuels were difficult to find and also the price was rising. Nuclear power was meant to solve all our energy problems.

Then occurred Chernobyl and the world realized that nuclear power is extremely dangerous for many reasons. It generates contamination of water, air and grand because of radioactive waste and radiation (particles carried in the air for great distances).

In the example of Japan, the main reason for the nuclear disaster were because the officials hadn't followed the safe way to construct. If we want to use nuclear power, we have to be conscious and responsible. We have to avoid another Chernobyl or Japan.

45 Ponent Street

Castelló d’Empúries

17486

12^th April 2011

World Nuclear Organization

21 Atomic Street

Ringstone

London

18673

Dear Mr, Rtich,

First I want to express my sorrow for poor Japanese. But I am writing in order to explain some possibilities to solve the problem with the nuclear issue.

Nuclear power, like all other energies has its advantages. It does not pollute the environment with toxic gases and also that with few elements you can produce a lot of energy. But like all things in life, this energy causes some problems like the limit of nuclear toxic particles in the air and the most important one: If there is a natural disaster like an earthquake, it can bring a lot of bad consequences. This case is the one of Japan.

In my opinion, we do not have to stop producing nuclear power because this kind of energy benefits us in many ways. But what our real obligation is prevent the disasters and stepped up the security of all nuclear industries. I said that because if in Japan would have been more security and a better maintenance of the systems and the installations, it would not have happened this terrible destruction. Therefore, we have to lead this work to scientists to make a new control system which can afford any natural disaster and that can work in any climate condition.

If we thought in a foolish way we could say that in some way is useful that had happened this because it will make assimilate people the real risk of nuclear power and start to do something to prevent it.

Yours sincerely,

Amanda Moore



TIME TO CHANGE

In the great adventure of life on Earth, every species has a role to play, every species has its place. None is futile or harmful. They all balance out. It's like we are all together in our giant home, the Earth. But this beautiful dream broke down when humans entered into this paradise. Before there existed a food chain; all animals had a position in this chain - the strongest at the top and the weakest at the bottom. Generally there were larger numbers in the lower levels of the chain, this enabled those at the top to survive. If you are a sensitive person, you will feel pain for the smallest ones but this is the cycle of life, as Darwin said, this is the natural selection, the law of the strongest one.

Species are born to reproduce, this is their main function in life. Any changes to this would be devastating. For thousands of years the food chain has remained balanced - everything had its place. Until humans entered and developed. Look at the case of Australia. In that country, rabbits reproduced more than the normal average, so there were a lot and this disturbed the farmers. Therefore the "so called" intelligent scientists decided to use a poison to kill the rabbits, so they died out. In my opinion it's not the solution; neither introduce another animal that's the predator of the other.

If we continue acting in this way, we will wipe out many species in the world because if one species of animal disappears, then their predators also will be in risk of extinction and like this more cases. Maybe we aren't noticing it but we and our foolish mind are at fault of this non balanced out world. So, we have to settle down and start to think reasonably. Because sooner or later we will have to pay the consequences, the ones which would bring such terrible things that we've never seen.

JOBS FOR TEENAGERS

The teenage years in one way are amazing because you almost have no responsibilities and you only think about going out with friends. But also this age is very difficult because your body is changing and your mind too, even if you don't notice it.

Another reason that teenagers hate this age is because they have to start to work in summers. But why do they hate it?

When I was sixteen ( the actual age which people can begin to work ) I searched for a job and I found one, I went to Aquabrava to be a lifeguard. Moreover, I wanted to work! My parents didn't have to say nothing to me. Maybe the first time that you work is a bit tiring but is so gratifying because you have a responsibility and you feel that you begin to be sufficient mature. It's good because you need to be mature to be responsible and then you would keep the work and be good at it. In fact, this is an extraordinary experience because you meet a lot of new people and make good friends.

One important thing, for many people the most one, is that if you work, you get money. But is not a fortune, it's the opposite, maybe so little money but at least you don't have to ask your parents all time for money.

All this is very beautiful but nowadays the number of people claiming unemployment benefit is increasing, so it means that it's very difficult for young people to find a job. But in my opinion is better that bosses prefer people with experiences than teenagers because probably they need the money to bring de family up. So now, we have it a bit difficult, but times change and I wish that it doesn't last too much.

CAN LOVE BE FOREVER?

Love is a really nice word but does it exist? I would like to think that this strong feeling can be forever, but unfortunately the world is changing. Before there was a clear idea: find a charming man and get married soon. Nowadays people don't want commitment because it seems that if you say this to someone, he/she runs away.

The mentality of society today is only live the moment and enjoy it to the maximum. This is OK, but we have to put limits because we have to act like mature people. In my case, now I want to be free and have fun with friends but in the future I would like to have stability, find a nice person and create a family.

We live for now, we want everything, we want more money, more fame... We are very selfish. How can love survive, when we only think of ourselves? Love is about caring for someone as much as, or more than ourselves. Now when relationships get problems - "Love is no bed of roses" - we take the easy option for ourselves...escape.

There's another problem with love, it is difficult for it to last. For example if you meet a person who you feel confident with and you start to go out when you are young, like a teenage age, it's very difficult that love last because you have all your life ahead of you and you don't know yet where or what you want to be. Perhaps this young relationship will prevent you achieving your goals. As you both mature your ideas will change.

To finish I would like to say that I think that love exists and that can last forever but it's very difficult to keep the flame burning but why not to try it?

So, I'm confident with romantic people who often dream of love because they are the ones that will be able to change the world and make it a more hopeful and lovely place to live in.

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NOT RESPECTED, PERHAPS IT'S TIME TO DO AWAY WITH THEM

Maybe we could think that human rights are not important because we don't appreciate what they do for the society or because we don't see them acting. In spite of these ways of think, human rights are present in every moment of our life. So, I agree with the first sentence.

First, nowadays humans undervalue these rights for many reasons like think that they aren't useful or that anybody respect them... If we had these opinions it would be impossible to improve the future, we have to change and be more optimist.

Second, we have to think about underprivileged people because they are the ones who notice that human rights are not well applied and respected. So, it's time to change and start to do something like obey the law, take advantage of chances, value all the thing we have, do all the things with love and get rid of the bad feelings like pride, prejudice, selfishness... 

To conclude, human rights are very important for us and most of all people because we aren't conscious that we live so good and that there's a lot of people suffering the effects caused by don't respect these rights.

CATWALK FASHION, PRACTICAL OR A JOKE?

Fashion world is very difficult for the people that work in it and really attractive to the people outside. But nowadays it’s becoming less appealing because of the styles.

Designers are creating clothes impossible to afford and impossible to wear because these clothes are very strange. At the moment, the only person who can wear these “original” clothes and not feel embarrassed is Lady Gaga!!!

If you watch a fashion show, can you imagine wearing these clothes? Definitely I can’t. In my opinion, they can be creative but with more reasonable imagination because some dresses seem that they are made for astronaut women…

Before the designers only designed clothes for the celebrities or for the high society, but now there are more people that can wear these expensive clothes.

Also, thin women are the stereotype of beauty nowadays but it doesn’t mean that women with more kilograms don’t exist. So do why designers only make little sizes? So, if the market is expanding, they should adapt their clothes and make them more wearable for all kind of people. 

DESCRIPTION OF A PLACE YOU REMEMBER FONDLY

Last summer I went to Malaga to visit my aunt. Malaga is one of the provinces of Andalusia. This city is not so big and it’s divided in two different sites, one is near the sea and the other is the heart of the city, full of buildings and traffic. Apart from the annoying noise I love the contrast of this amazing city.

I also like Malaga for the climate because it’s always sunny, in winter too. This province is a bit little but in my opinion this characteristic makes it more attractive. One of the things that had fascinated me more was the main street of the city called Larios.

This street communicates the two parts, in one exit were the sea and in the other one the centre of the little city, and it was full of clothes shops and pubs. I used to like to sit down on the terraces of the pubs and saw people pass along following their way and also because you could feel the fresh air from the sea and at the same time the typical sounds of the city like cars, horn, music…

This street was special because there were people dressed up with funny customs like a man who was dressed with newspapers.

The best thing of Malaga was the people who lived there because they were very friendly (When I went there I made a really good friend) and kind because if you were lost they helped you to find the right way.

NEW

Spanair’s Girona – Madrid routed a runway success.

Since introducing the route in January 2007, the airline has transported more than 76.000 passengers (selling approximately 54 percent of the 140.000 available seats) between Girona and the Spanish Capital, a statistic that exceeds the company’s original projections by roughly 10.000 passengers. As a result, spanair will increase the daily number of flights to Madrid and will also introduce a new route this summer, connecting Girona to the Balearic Islands.

Spanair is a good airline with a lot of destinations. You can find it in Barcelona’s or in Girona’s airport. Some time ago, if you wanted to travel abroad, you didn’t have a variety in a lot of aspects like before there were a small number of travel agencies, also a few airlines and there weren’t a lot of destinations from Barcelona.

Girona airport and Ryanair, in my opinion are one of the best things the government have done, because for people who live near Girona is a good advantage. In this case is when we see that it’s true that the technologies are improving.

Now, there’re a lot of airlines and it’s better for us to know which one is the cheapest, or if one company offers you more advantages than other for the same prize, etc. It also means that, in some way, you can choose whatever you want because there are a lot of advantages to take. One example is that if you fly with an airline company called Ryanair, and if you pay an extra amount, then you’ll have a priority pass.

But now there’s a problem because the government said that he wouldn’t gave more extra money to some flights because he didn’t obtain benefits. In some way I understand it but nowadays we are in crisis and if the government takes out some cheap flights like Madrid or Tenerife, then these flights will cost us more money because we’ll have to go to the Barcelona’s airport or maybe catch the flight with some airline more expensive.

To conclude I’ll say that the companies have widen the destinations and it’s a successful progress because doing that companies will make more profit and also we’ll benefit from it.

THE CINEMA INDUSTRY

Now the world of cinema is accused of repetition, because it always makes remakes, silly comedies, explosions and all kind of special effects. Before there were a lot of stars of cinema like Audrey Hepburn, John Wayne, and Marilyn Monroe Some of them were very good actors but others only copied their style. There were big actors that didn’t win the popularity of the people, not because of their talent, but because they did not have the glamour of actors like Marilyn Monroe. The truth is that this was a false world and no one was what they pretended to be. What was important was glamour.

But nowadays the “stars” don’t have it, they are very superficial and short lived. For example one year Cameron Diaz is the queen of the screen and then a few months later it’s Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox.

I’m sure that you will agree with me when I say that times change. Music and actors have to change for fashion, they have to adapt themselves to the movements of the moment. A lot of famous people are very similar, an example in the music world is that there are hundreds of Britney Spears but only one Tina Turner or Frank Sinatra. There are no individuals, most of them are stereotypes.

Before people looked up to the stars. Now the stars are like you or I; they are not special, not glamorous. The spectators miss this glamour and also the actual “stars” because they are too like us.

The cinema industry is creating more and more of the same. Before when you saw a film the actors took your breath away. Now we can almost see ourselves on the screen. A lot of the magic of the hero or heroine has disappeared, replaced by special effects. There are some admirable actors like Julianne Moore, but they are not “stars”. Is it better a lot of films and a lot of actors or a small number of quality films with glamorous stars.

DESCRIPTION OF A PERSON

MY LOVELY SISTER

Emma is my little sister and she’s only six.

She is very extroverted and good fun. She is quite competitive but it’s a normal thing on her age because she always wants to be the best in everything she does. Also she is very sensitive because when she sees cartoons and in these appears some scenes which are dramatic she cries, so she is thin-skinned.

She isn’t completely shy, it’s the opposite, she is very naughty.

Emma is tall for her age, so it means that when she will grow up, she will be tall too. She has got really nice blue eyes but sometimes you can’t see her nice eyes because she wears glasses since she was very little. She has got large straight hair but my father always ties her hair in a ponytail and when she leaves her hair loose she is being more beautiful. A funny thing is that she has got big feet and sometimes we called her clown.

She is very impulsive and sincere because when she thinks something she tell you what she was thinking about and she didn’t lie.

She is talkative because if someone is telling something, she also has to say something and she never lets you to talk. Also she is very expressive, because when she is explaining something to you, she always makes gestures and faces.

Most of the times she wants to be the centre of attention but it’s something common in the child of her age. She is a bit bossy but when she tells us what to do we don’t pay attention to her.

One thing that I really like is that she is very innocent because now she is little and another thing that I love in her is that I always want to kiss her but she doesn’t like very much it and when I’m going to kiss her, she turns her face but she makes that for joking.

She’s the kind of person who I feel happy with.

REFLECTION OF MY ORAL PRESENTATION

This is the presentation of the second term and the topic was doing the oral presentation of the research project in English. It wasn’t very difficult because we already had done the one in Catalan, so we only had to translate it. Mine research project was about celiac disease that is also called gluten intolerance.

I have used a PowerPoint to support my presentation. It was well in the structure and well in the content because I put something of text but not very much only some words to orientate the people and also the objectives because I didn’t find a good slide for it. In spite of this little parts, in most of the slides were images and it was better because it makes the presentation more entertaining. In this oral presentation I haven’t count the time because I think that the importance is to do it well and not to get worried about the time.

I was looking almost all the time at the people. I think that only one or two times I had to read my notes because I was nervous and my mind got white but I worked very hard on it. I understood everything and also I remembered everything I had to say, so I was very fluent. I did a lot of gestures maybe too many movements but in my opinion it’s normal because when you speak in public you become nervous for the situation.

I think that my presentation was well organized because first, I made a little introduction of why I had chosen that topic, the objectives and the methodology. Then I spoke about the disease and finally I said the conclusions but in my opinion the text needed more connectors.

The text was rich in grammar and vocabulary. The verbs were in the correct tense, the sentences where well structured, I used good words, etc. One point against is that I’d used little pause fillers because I think that I didn’t get stuck.

In my opinion I had a good pronunciation because I practice it before a lot in my home. I changed my tone of voice and I was very fluent because I didn’t speak with breaks and to separate the paragraphs I made little pauses.

Summarizing I think that I did a good presentation but also that are aspects that I have to improve like speak lowly, make more pauses, make less movements, don’t touch my hair all the time, improve mi pronunciation, put more connectors in the text, etc. I think that I can get more of eight points.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD?

We are always protesting against many things, most of the times without any reason. When we do that we become very foolish people because there are a lot of people that haven’t got our opportunities, for example to study. In general, most of the people who live in the third world don’t have education. They usually work to bring food or money to their home. This is called child labour and it’s work done by child. The main problem is that it prevents child’s education and interrupts their development. It’s dangerous work for the well being of the children because they have to work in bad conditions, and sometimes they are like slaves. This is considered a human rights violation, but some countries tolerate it.

Child labour can have serious consequences like chronic diseases, wounds or chemical infections. The children who work in these conditions are between five and fourteen years old, and as everybody knows the legal age to start working is sixteen. There are different types of this kind of work like Soldier children, these ones have to work as cooks for the army and also participate in wars. There are also “sweat factories” where children work many hours with sewing machines to make clothes for the fashion industry. In my opinion, the government should do something to help all children that are forced to do this kind of work and make it safe. Moreover, they have to solve the sanity problems or stop the dangerous child labour.

COMPUTERS IN SHCOOL INSTEAD OF BOOKS

New technologies, in general, help us to make the future easier and more accessible. We are always advancing.

There are many examples of technological inventions that have changed our lives: The telephone, the television, the microwave, X-ray machines and of course a lot of medical advancements that have saved thousands of lives. The computer is antoher example because all business, libraries, banks, shops, etc have computers.

Now computers are being introduced into schools. But is it positive or negative?

On the one hand they are useful and good in many situations for example if you have to do work with a lot of pages, is better to do it with a computer. But you can’t always use it well. You need to know about computer programmes and to control them. Another positive point of computers is that you can find the information faster and it’s easier to find it.

On the other hand computers are having and adverse effect on students because if we always work with computers, we’ll lose the ability of write, our vocabulary will be less rich and books will disappear.

A CITY I WANT TO VISIT

I love traveling but I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to do it because of my age.

I’ve been to London, to Sweden, to Italy, to the Canary Islands and in some cities of Spain like Malaga, Basque country, Madrid…

I would like to go to America and visit the spectacular city of New York. This city is amazing. I’ve seen it in a lot of films, especially some areas like Manhattan, Brooklyn, Times Square, Wall Street, Central Park…

I also want to go there because all people who have been there say magnificent things about it and if they could they would return there.

Another reason for this motivation is that New York is very different from the cities I have visited. This city of USA has a lot of skyscrapers, there are a lot of people of different cultures, the typical food, monuments and museums… New York is more advanced in technology than Madrid or Barcelona (my nearest city) because if you are walking down the street of Times Square you’ll see a lot of electronic amusements and advertising.

If one day I go there, I want to visit The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State, Times Square, Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Bridge… There are a lot of sites to visit, every cm has something special. The problem of this city is that the costs of travel are very high, so now I can’t afford it but I hope that in the future, I’ll get a good job that will allow me to make this dream come true.