Final reflection

My English progress from 2012-2014 and my English competence in 2014

This is my last post and it’s time to see my improvement along these two years, from 2012 to 2014. To see my improvement I’m going to compare my first written document with my last composition, and also my first oral presentation with my last one. Moreover, to show my English competence I’m going to choose my best writing evidence and my best oral evidence.

My first post in the blog was “The animal in me” and I have read it again and it is really embarrassing. I had written it three years ago and comparing my first post with my last one, I have to say that I have improved my writing skills. I think I didn’t realize that the connectors exist. Another difference is that I used to talk about boring and ordinary topics. I have noticed that I have improved over the years in grammar and vocabulary, especially with the adjectives. If I’m honest I didn’t know which my best written composition is, but if I have to choose one of all my post, that would be “Four ways to give your brain a break”.

Regarding my oral presentation improvement I have to say that I feel more confident in front of my classmates, although I need to practice my pronunciation and my tone of voice. I have to say that I hate doing oral presentation because I felt insecure and incompetent but if I have to choose my best oral presentation I would choose “Pau Casals a Prades” (my TDR) because it was my last oral presentation and I was extremely happy doing it.

All in all, I can’t finish my last blog without mention the advantages of writing this blog. At first, someone could think that writing a blog is a way of wasting time, but I can confirm that it have helped me to improve my may to explain my point of view and to increase my knowledge of English.

If I knew back then

Dear Tura,

You are going to start High School and you are going to spend six years of your life there. So keep calm and carry on. You will learn many things along those years, you will met new people, new teachers… but remember, you also have to enjoy the moment so don’t get stressed and keep your mind positive. Maybe you will think this step on your life is too hard for you, but it isn’t!

You are going to start a new life, so take care about the decisions that you will make in the future and let others help you.

If honest, every single day you are going to wish you dropped out of the school and went away. But you have to know that High School is just a “little“ step to prepare you for the future. Your teachers are going to help you and teach you. And if you pass all the exams and you learn all the stuff that your teachers teach you, you could be proud of yourself and also you could start a new chapter of your life.

Good luck and remember to enjoy every moment.

See you soon,

Tura

If I knew back then

Dear Tura,

you are going to start High School and you are going to spend six years of your life there. So Keep calm and carry on. You will  learn many things along those years, you will meet new people, new teachers… but remember, you also have to enjoy the moment so don’t get stressed and keep your mind positive. Maybe you will think this step on your life is too hard for you, but it isn’t!

You are going to start a new life, so take care about the desicions that you will make in the future and let others help you.

If I’m honest,every single day you are going to wish you dropped out of the school and went away.but you have to know that High School is just a “litlle”step to prepare you for the future. your teachers are going to help you and teach you. And if you pass all the exams and you learn all the staff taht your teaches teach you, you could be proud of you rself and also you could start a new chapter of your life.

Good luck and remember to enjoy every moment.

See you soon,

Tura

XXOO

NOMOPHOBIA: THE BIGGEST PHOBIA IN THE WORLD?

-          - Amy, can you hear me? Hello?!

-        -   Oh, sorry Jane! I’m talking to Jake about the new TV show on MTV.

-         -  That sounds interesting but can you talk with him later? I’m here, next to you to talk and to have a conversation!

-        -   Sorry, that is true! But first let me check my phone for missed calls or messages.

-        -  Amy! You have nomophobia! You have fear of being apart from your phone; you are constantly topping up your battery life and using it in inappropriate place, like now! Why can’t we have a conversation? Why do you never turn your phone off?

-        -  I have a problem, I think.

-        -   Do you think so?...  Don’t worry. I’m going to help you. First of all, turn it off.

-        -  Why? No, no please.

-         -  Turn it off. You have met me, not Jake.

-          - Ok, but what if someone phones me?

-         -  That person can phone me. Don’t worry Amy, people used to live without phones and were also happy!  

Jane

I absolutely thing that this video, which is based on a true story, deservers being watch by everyone. It talks about a young girl called Jane who “had” a baby when she was 18. Jane is a single mother and she goes to school and also she has to take care of her daughter. This situation is really difficult for her but she loves her daughter and she would sacrifice everything for her.  The other mothers criticized her for having a baby being so young but the thing is that they don’t know the truth. The truth is that Jane one day was walking along the street and she saw a bag on the floor. She opened it and insite there was a baby. That baby became her daughter but she decided to keep it in secret.

That video shows how cruel could be the society because in this case, all the mothers criticized Jane without knowing the truth and they are harmed her and her daughter. 

Things to stop doing to yourself

I have just read an article written by Marc and Angel which expose a list of 30 things to stop doing to yourself. I really enjoy reading it and for that I have decided to talk about it. Also I recommend you to read the whole article because it is amazing and also it helps you to improve your view about life. If we stop doing all these things I’m sure that people will have a better life. 

Most of the things written in the list are obvious and also everyone has heard them at least once but it is important to remember them daily. Some of them are: stop spending time with the wrong people, stop running from your problems, stop trying to be someone you’re not, stop being scared to make a mistake, stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work, stop worrying so much, stop being ungrateful, stop lying to yourself, stop trying to compete against everyone else or stop being jealous of others. These are the most common ones because as I said before, everyone has heard them and try to stop doing once in live.

But I would bring out some of the ones which I have never thought them that I should stop doing to myself. The first one is to stop putting your own needs on the back burner, the second one is to stop trying to hold onto the past because you can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one. The third one is to stop thinking you’re not ready And last but not least, we have to stop trying to make things perfect because perfect things don’t exist. 

Thai commercial

This is a emotional commercial video which pretends to show us that money can’t buy the most important things in live. This video talks about one guy who helps other people doing little things like helping a woman with her wheelbarrow to cross the road or giving bananas to an old woman. He gets nothing for doing that, he does it for free. The people who see him helping others don’t understand why he is doing all these. He is a good man, he hasn’t much money and he doesn’t want to be rich. At the end, we can see all the little things that he had done, and helped to improve other people lives.  And that is what makes him happy.

Places to go before I die (3)

That’s my third and last post about the places to go before I die.  Previously I have explained my favorites places in Europe and in North America.

Somewhere totally different that I also want to go is the Sahara desert. May be it is because is a landscape unusual for me and for that fascinates me. As well as, Ha Long Bay, is located in northern Vietnam and there are more than 2,000 jungle-covered islands with caves, grottoes, sinkholes and lakes.

Also I would like to visit Argentina, the Macchu Picchu, Egypt and at the north of Beijing. And finally, I can’t die without staying at Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Places to go before I die (2)

As you could read in the previous post I have started to make a list about the places which I want to go. After visiting the European countries I would like to visit New York, I think that most people would like to go there to visit the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, the Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller center, Grand Central terminal and obviously Times Square. And also I would like to go to the MOMA (the museum of modern arts), watch some musical and join a basketball mach. 

Furthermore I would like to do the U.S. Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway for the same as reason I want to do the interrail: it’s cheaper and also you can visit many places in a shorter time.

Lake Louisa and the Niagara Falls in Canada are places that I’m really looking forward to go, too.

Places to go before I die (1)

Since I was a child, my biggest dream has been travelling around the world. Obviously, if I had money and time I will go to everywhere but it’s quite difficult to have money and time. So I have decided to make a list about the places which I want to go.

Firstly I would travel though Europe with an interrail because I think that is the cheapest way to visit the European countries in a short time. In that way you have the chance to visit most countries and decide which you like best and then you can go back again and spend more time.  I’m looking forward to visit Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey and specially Germany and Greece. 

News

Egypt releases 21 female protesters

Egyptian authorities released 21 women and girls. They belonged to a group called the 7A.M. Movement and they held a protest on October 31 supporting Mr. Morsi. At first they were condemn to 11 years in prison to support the country’s ousted president over a street protest. Also the judge ordered that the seven minors had to be held until they turned 18. Fortunately, a defense lawyer reduced the women's sentences to one-year suspended and three months of probation for the minors.

In my opinion the original sentences were excessive and it is clear that they caused an outcry in Egypt and among international human rights groups. Although I agree that they have to be punished because they carried arms in the protest and that is illegal but this needs to be proved.

Unfortunately, in many countries people are condemned without proofs and in some cases the sentences are unfair. So, all the people have to know that these things still happen and then, we have to fight for our rights and live as we deserve.

ousted

minors

News

Dead pigs floating inChinese river

At least 170 dead pigs have been found in China's second longest river which is a major source of water for irrigation for the surrounding regions. But it isn’t yet known where the pigs came from and what killed them. it is thought that farmers dumped pigs that have died into rivers to avoid paying for them to disposed of properly. The problem is that this fact isn't the first time that has happened. This time, the pigs tested negative for an infectious disease but the test will carry out further. Because this is leading to concerns about water and food safety in the city.

This is a big problem for the 3 million residents who live next to the river because it’s the second water supply after excessive levels of the chemical benzene was found in the tap water. For that reason, they were warned not to drink tap water after levels of the carcinogenic chemical were found to be more than 20 times above national safety levels. Nowadays is almost impossible to imagine that this fact could happen.

irrigation

properly

News

Female in Gaza

Gaza is a 45-square-mile district. It is a troubled land, and growing up there isn’t easy. It is a surrounded district where families are tight and watchful. Many women say that living in a place as small as Gaza it is impossible to be truly free. People who live there wish they could leave to go to a place where no one knows them.

Despite hardships, people who live in Gaza can be perfectly educated because Gaza has one of the finest school systems in the Middle East. Many young women attend to universities to become writers, engineers and doctors. And many of them dream of leaving Gaza, to travel and to explore the rest of the world. Although they also speak of returning to Gaza because it is their home.

It must be hard living in these conditions. Being controlled all the time and couldn’t leave anywhere is oppressing. Maybe the people who lives there are accustomed to have this limitations in their lives but I honestly coudn’t.

hardships

tight

watchful

Human rights

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. There are 30 human rights, which were created in 1948.  

After reading all the human rights, I have chosen the article 24 “The right to play”. I have decided to talk about that right because it seems obvious, but it isn’t for everybody.

Article 24.

• Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

At first, as I did, it seems unnecessary to call it as a “human right” because everyone rest and leisure. But unfortunately that’s not true. There are many people who work twelve or fourteen hours per day every single day. Without vacations and with a very low salary. That means that they are like slaves because they spend their whole lives working and that is unfair. For that, the right to play was created.

Money can't buy everything

audioboo

In my opinion money isn’t the most important thing in our lives but it helps. Unfortunately, in our society everything or almost everything is reduced to money: cars, houses, pets, enjoyment, education, clothes… but there are just a few things that money can’t buy. And these are the most important, much more than money. For example: wisdom, health, good friends, love, obviously we can’t buy time and last but not least, happiness. 

I thing in life we have to look for these things and care less about money because with money and without these things no one could be happy. 

Interview with a career expert on your interest

-        - Good morning, I have heard that you are an archaeologist. Is that true?

-          - You are right; I have been working on it for twenty years. Why? Are you interested on this degree?

-          - Yes, next year I’m going to university and I would like to start an archaeologist degree.  But before I would like to ask you some questions. Do you mind?  

-          - no,  of course, ask please. 

-          - Thank you. Where did you study?

-          - I studied in the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the third year I went to Berlin to do the first six months. I really enjoyed that experience and I recommend you to do it. Because I learned many things, not just about archaeology, I learnt how to do everything on my own, meeting new people who spoke other languages and also I help me to grow faster.

-          - Yes, I have been considering that option. I wish to go to Germany or Greece.

-     - Good options. Also you can do the master aboard, I did it in the USA. It was also a great experience. My advice is to travel a lot, meet new people and learnt as much as possible.

-          - Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

Correction improvement

c/ Ter, 3

25005 Lleida

25^th March, 2008

White House

Washington D.C.

Dear Mr Obamma,

I am writing to you because yesterday I saw a documentary which talked about one young man who was shot in your country. He explain that he picked up  one friend of him and that friend shot him in a “complicated” zone where there were not police neither ambulances so he felt down. One neighbour came across him and asked for help.

Two years later, that boy decided to do the documentary and he narrates that he had spent the worst two years of his life. He lived with fear, he can not travel with a public transport and also he did not trust anybody.

I would like you to consider these questions:  where were the police in that moment? And, how could someone shoot someone else in the middle of the street? That boy, as many in the rest of the world, feels insecure and there is a human right which defends the right to be secure. I would like to know why, depending on the zone, is not there the enough security for the people who live there?

Yours sincerely,

Tura Puig

Education is the key, school is the lock

Who only came to this realization after countless nights in the library, with a can of red bull keeping me awake till morning, another can in the morning, falling asleep between piles of books that probably equates to the same amount I spent on my rent, memorize equations, facts and dates, write down to the letter, half of which I would never remember, and half of which I would forget straight after the exam.

There is a point when we have too much information in our heads and then we feel swamped. We can't memorize all the new information in just a few months, but we have to because we haven't another choice. So we cut off our sleepy hours to study and to do the homework. Even the teachers notice that we aren't useful to do anything, when we come into class with our zombie faces, without talking and with a bad hair. Even though, in the afternoon, we can't sleep because we have more things to do. All in all, it causes a non-sleeping circle which we can't get out.

There's a saying that is: if you don't build your dreams, someone else will hire you to help build theirs.

In my view, that sentence means that everyone has to discover which their dreams are and then make their come true. If we don’t do it, then our life will have no sense because we are going to live without any objective, without goals, being conformist with our lives. And then, someone else will use us to make their dreams come true.

A soulmate for me

It is said that we have a soulmate foe us  and we wait the whole life to find it. The thing is, we have a soulmate? I do not agree because there isn’t any person who fits with you perfectly. Although we can find someone who is quite similar to our “ideal mate”.

In my case, I would like someone who accepts me exactly as I am. My ideal mate has to make me laugh, he has to be polite, open minded, not rude and he has to respect me. Also he has to be kind and honest. These qualities are the most important for me and if I honest, there aren’t many guys who have them. The thing is, they have these qualities but in many cases they don’t show them.

All in all, I thing that we don’t have to look for the perfect mate, we just have to find someone who makes us happy and feel good with. Someone who loves you as you are. 

News

Three-year-old Alexis Martin has the-same IQ as Einstein

Alexis Martin who is three years old has the same IQ as Einstein. With only three years of age she just become Arizona's youngest Mensa member.

Alexis Martin’s parents first realized their daughter was smart when she began reciting her bedtime stories verbatim at 18 months old. Also she has memorized world geography and taught herself Spanish on her parents' iPad.

According to ABC she is around a 160 on IQ, the same score as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

That piece of news is incredible, how can a three-year-old learn to Speak Spanish on her own? And at 18 months old she learnd by heart all her bedtimes stories, that really impress me. Moreover, she’s scored so well on IQ tests that doctors have been “unable to calculate her true score” I have no words left.

Verbatim

News

Nepal slashes fees to climb mount Everest

Nepal will slash climbing fees for Everest and other Himalayan peaks to attract more mountaineers. Specially the government will cut license fees for foreign individuals but, the fees for group expeditions to Everest will go up.

Before, with the past rules, there were many people who went up but not all of them equally competent. Also, this format hampered the rescue efforts.

The government hopes that the new measure would help to increase the number of climbers. They really need that because Everest is a key revenue earner for the country.

 Hundreds of climbers scale Nepal’s more than 100 peaks every year and Everest alone contributes $3 million to the country annually.

Before reading that piece of news I had never thought that you must pay to go up Everest. Anyway, nowadays you must pay to do whatever so that doesn't surprise me too much.

Contributes

Rescue

Revenue

News

Woman crowdfunds homeless man's ticket home

A woman called Jenny one night was out in Dalston and she came across a very sweet homeless man. He told her that he was 64 and came over to England with his mum for a better life. Unfortunately his mother passed away and he found himself homeless with no funds. And his wish was to go back to Jamaica. So she decided to do something to help him.  Jenny, who sent a message to help a homeless Jamaican man back to his native country, has succeeded in raising thousands of dollars. Supporters have been using the Twitter hashtag #getmichaelhome to highlight the appeal.

Her goal was to raise £8,000, but donations closed today at £10,215. When the man knew that he told the world he was overwhelmed.

In my opinion the most amusing part is seeing that he was overwhelmed, touched and shocked because his dream to return home could actually become a reality. That proves that the world we live in isn't as awful as we think.

crowdfunds

overwhelmed

Pride and Prejudice

How important was beauty at that time?

Beauty always has been a really important quality for a person. For that, people use to take care about their appearance; they want to look as good as they can. That also happened before, as we can see in Pride and Prejudice, guys went to balls to meet all the girls and there they would chose the most beautiful one to dance with. However, girls were interested in the man’s income not in their looks.  Therefore only the most beautiful girls could get the best husbands. At that time the blondes and pale skin, like Jane, were considered the most beautiful girls.

All in all, I agree that the appearance at that time were very important because it helped you to get your future husband. 

Oral presentation

In this oral presentation I talked about my TDR called Pau Casals, corresponència i exili (1942-1956). To explain my research I used a Power Point to show the pictures. The structure of my presentation it is clear, I have divided it into four parts: biography, historical context, Prades and finally the letters that I found in San Cugat. 

To improve my presentation I have to speak louder, improve my body language, eye contact and my pronunciation. In my opinion the project is very interesting and I have really enjoyed doing it. So I hope you enjoy it as well as I have.

TDR

My research work is based in the reconstruction of a fragment of Pau Casals’s life. I have focused on his humanitarian activity during his exile in Prades, specifically between 1942 and 1956. in my project I have explained the reasons for his exile and what he made during this period: helping refugees with donations of food, clothing and money, protesting against totalitarianism and defending the right to freedom. On the one hand, thanks to Maria Casals, my grandmother, I was able to deepen his uncle's life as she lived with him in Prades. On the other hand, with the letters which I went to look at the National Archive of Catalonia I have corroborated everything that my grandmother told me.

Can internet change the world for the better?

  Nowadays our society depends on internet. All the ages and in the great majority of the countries use this global network connecting millions of computers. That’s why we are going to discuss the benefits and the challenges of the internet. 

First of all, internet brings to us lots of benefits like getting the information that we want and when we want. Moreover, it helps people to communicate to each other quicker. 

In contrast, it has some flaws. For example, it creates dependency; it’s like a drug, if you don’t pay attention, you get addicted. Besides with all the things that you can find in it you create your world, you became unsociable. And the worst thing of all is that it cuts down our imagination. You don’t need to think for yourself because you find all the things done.

 All in all, can internet change the world for the better? This is our question to conclude this discussion essay. In our opinion some things get better and some things get worse. We think that internet is improving our world in a good way but we can’t depend on it because if we do, we will lose our relationships and also the imagination.