My English competence in 2014

First of all, I think it’s a difficult task to choose the best post and the best oral presentation, because every post is different, with different personal views…

If I have to choose my best post in my blog maybe this will be a post called Corruption infootball. First, I think it’s a current topic, because in our country we can see every day news relationship with corruption in football or in politics, so I wanted to show my personal view about this. Te elements that make this post different from the others are this current and specific topic and then the vocabulary and the grammar. Maybe vocabulary and grammar aren’t the most important elements because I have done some posts with the same level if I talk about the linguistic elements, but in fact, these make a fluent and mature post.

Finally, I think with this post I have done a critique about our political and economic system and this make it significant.

If I have to choose my best oral presentation this will probably be the ones that we talked about smartphones. I did this oral presentation with Roger and David and we talk about specific gadgets of this device and the effects that these have to the society. I have chosen this because we introduce some technologic vocabulary and we used a correct grammar. Moreover, I think was a current and interesting topic, so all the classmates were attentive. In my opinion, this is an important element because you are talking to one audience and you have to have the audience awake and concentrate.

To sum up, I think we had a correct pronuntation and, in general, we were watching all the time our classmates. 

My English progress from 2012-2014

My first post of batxillerat was the email to teacher called Introduce myself and the last one is If I knew backthen… In my opinion, it so easy to see the differences in this to posts. First of all, I can talk about my grammar and syntax because at the beginning of first batxillerat I wrote short, easy and simple sentences and now, I think I write long sentences with subordinates. Another thing is the use of connectors. This is for me the most important and the most clear, because connectors transform a complex post in a fluent post and this became more mature. In fact, there is another element that makes a write more mature, and this is the personal development. If you have a progress in this topic and you talk about interesting and current topics, like news, you will have a better a blog. And that’s my case, because at the beginning of first batxillerat I talked about football or music, and now, at the end of second batxillerat, I talk about economy or politics that appear in news.

My first oral presentation in batxillerat was the Freestyle football soccer beach, which I did with my classmate David, and the last one is called my TDR. Between these two oral presentations I can see a lot of differences. First of all, I can talk about the vocabulary and the grammar that I used in my oral presentation, that was so simply if I compare with my TDR oral presentation, because in this presentation I talked about a specific and science topic, which was demography, geography and history. Another thing I have seen is the eye contact. In my fist oral presentation I was so nervous but in the last one I was calm and quiet, because since there we have done a lot of oral presentations and we have practised it. And the last thing and maybe the most important ones is the pronuntation that makes an oral presentation more fluency. Watching and comparing all my posts I have seen and improvement, and this makes me feel satisfied. 

If I knew back then...

Dear Jaume,

I know you are going to have a new life, because highschool changes it. Maybe you can think highschool is like the education you have recieved until now, but, sincerely, there is another way to work and the relationship with teachers is so different.

At the begining you have to be afraid, everybody feels this, but time puts everybody in their place and when you will do 3rd of ESO you will probably see things more clearly. My advice is simple, but it works. So, my suggest starts with respecting your teachers, doing the homework and studying for the exams because this is the main reason you will go there. However, you have to remember the human part because you would probably find friends or spend good times with some classmates. 

So, enjoy this six-year time because this probably will be so grateful to you. You know that everybody can have a bad day, and, sincerely, you will have these feeling a lot of times, for the stress of the exams and things like that, but I can confirm the result is really positive.

I hope you will enjoy it,

Yours,

Jaume

Nets hit 15 3-pointers to knock off Heat in Game 3

This morning has fallen defeated Miami for the first time this season in the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets. Miami trailed a run of six wins and no losses (4 victories against the Charlotte Bobcats and 2 against the Brooklyn Nets ) .The victory of the Nets is due largely to great success in the triples that have had tonight. They have gotten 15 of 25 triples. The fifth longest streak in the history of the playoffs by pulling at least 25 triples.

Joe Johnson, who led Brooklyn got 5 triples and finished with 19 points. While Mirza Teletovic basket over 4 triples and finished with 12 points. Shaun Livingston also developed well in the game.And LeBron James had 28 points for his team .Wade another 20 points. But not avail. Brooklyn, coached by Jason Kidd, left with a 19-point lead late in the third quarter. The series is now 2-1 in favour of Miami, but Brooklyn has the chance to tie the series in the next game that is also played in New York.

Vocabulary:

Faze: desconcertar.

Snap: trencar

Pull: tirar

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400556276

Eurovision 2014: The best reaction from Twitter after Conchita Wurst's song contest victory

Yesterday was the show called Eurovisión and this is a championship between all the European countries. These countries have a representative that has to sing and then the other countries have to vote. At the begging this show was so important to all the countries and this give standing, but these last years the quality isn’t the same and it’s more funny than serious.

This year in particular the winner was an Austrian girl called Conchita Wurst. Untill here, all is clear, but the peculiarity is this girl has beard, and when I say beard is beard and not three or four furs. Maybe there is a part of our society that think a girl can has a beard and things like this, but on the social networks the other part of society has gave support to this girl. This is a good news because this shows that there are tolerate humans in our society.

Vocabulary:

Drag: arrastrar.

Performer: artista

Queued: fila

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/eurovision-2014-winner-conchita-wurst-3525515

Liverpool old boy Carroll: Reds deserve title and I'll give my all against Man City to help

Andy Carroll, British striker, wishes wholeheartedly that Liverpool, his former team, winning the Premier League, after twenty years of drought without a title in the domestic competition. In the short time that Carroll played for Liverpool, he made ​​many friends. Especially Steven Gerrard, the captain of the team. Carroll believes that after leaving the skin Gerrard leads the team deserves a reward. 

The British striker, told the press, said that he would give everything to score a goal against Manchester City to bring a little more to the title to Liverpool. The match between West Ham and Manchester City are going to be played on Sunday at 16:00. At the same time of day they will also play the Liverpool vs Newcastle United. Stay tuned, because the Premier can has champion this same weekend.

Vocabulary:

Gatecrash: colar-se a

Aback: cap enrere

Hitman: assassí a sou

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/liverpool-old-boy-carroll-reds-3523211 

'Barrister cost my wife £600 an hour': How to get divorced without the big legal bills

This news deals with the option to have a low cost divorced and how to get it. First of all, I have to say I really enjoyed reading this news, because talks about an interesting and current topic.

This man talks about his case in particular and he said that his divorce was about 15000 pounds. He was so angry and he decided to explain how to get a low cost divorce. In my opinion, he has done a good job because talks in detail of all the fields that can supply a divorce, especially the legal field.

In my opinion it’s so silly to pay money to get a divorced. Two adults have to have the capacity to talk and control the situation and, obviously, with respect. But I understand too that there are a lot of situations and sometimes it’s impossible to argue with the other member of the couple.

Vocabulary:

Barrister: advocate

Split: separ-se/trencar-se

Stuck: “atascado”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2625122/How-divorced-without-big-legal-bills.html

Luis Suarez: I couldn't stop crying after draw at Crystal Palace

This news talks about Liverpool season and obviously the feelings about the best player in the team: Luis Suarez. At the begging of the season Liverpool thought about one objective: Champions League. If we consider this, the Liverpool season is fantastic because they are at the second position. But two weeks ago this team had big possibilities to win the Barclays Premier League, but they lose and draw two matches and now Manchester City is the favourite candidate to win. So, this is the reason why Suarez was crying, because they lose a big chance.

Moreover, this photo is the perfect example to say that there are players who love the shield and they will fight for this, because football is more than a sport, is a feeling that’s difficult to describe with words.


Vocabulary:

launch: llançar

turf: gespa

aim: pretender/aspirar

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2625466/Luis-Suarez-I-stop-crying-draw-Crystal-Palace.html 

Why do Spanish TV channels have 15 minute averts breaks?

I'm in my sofa right now watching the TV, and as usual the adverts has started, so I will go to have a shower I will have lunch and then probably when I get back to the sofa the program could start. 

I didn't understand yet, why the adverts are so long, it's horrible to have to wait 15 minutes for a program, watching ridiculous adverts, because the Spanish's adverts are so ridiculous, well, not only in adverts, in another fields too.

 I know that this wouldn't change because it's a business and the companies have to sale their products, eventhought my opinion is that this has to change quickly because is excessive their duration. 

Sometimes apart from that adverts, in some programs of Tele5, a Spanish TV, they do adverts while they are doing the programs. That's the worst because you are concentrated with the program and suddenly they put and advert totally different to the programme. 

Menorca...

Me and other teenagers that live in Castelló are planning a fabulous trip that we will do when we finish selectivitat. 

We have thought about this trip since summer but we have started to prepare it on November approximately.

We will go to Menorca, during Sant Joan. We have chosen this place and this time of the year because we will have finished selectivitat and we will be so happy, and because this party is so magical and important in Menorca in this season.

We will stay in an apartment that we have rented for a week, we will be separated in groups that we have made and we will have to look after of our group. I think that this trip will be amazing, because it will be the last time that we are all together due to the fact, we will take different ways from now and we will never be in the same class as always.
The plans that we have made for this week are be all day on the beach drinking a lot and relaxing all together.
I hope that everything goes as well as I expect and that we can have a magical week away from our parents, school and all the things that have been around us during this year.

I am waiting for the trip but I have to say I have enjoyed a lot preparing this trip, because I am the manager if we talk about money. 

Ugandan men first to face trial under severe anti-gay laws

We are in the 21^st century and I am so angry to hear this kind of news. This news in particular talks about a gay couple which had been arrested because of the way to think of Uganda.  In my way to think, these undeveloped countries will never be developed because they are so traditionalists. Life is progress and the governments have to see that developed countries respect human rights and especially the ones which are in relation with freedom of speech. We have to consider that a developed country have this tag not only for economic and political reasons. The most important one and it’s synonym of progress is the social reasons. In fact, we are all humans and we have to life in peace and respecting the others, because we are always judging the society for their ideas and for their pleasures. So, this is a horrible news because this couple had been arrested for their pleasures and not for their acts.

VOCABULARY

Deter: impedir.

Enacted: promulgar.

Bail: fiança. 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/07/uganda-men-first-trial-anti-gay-laws 

Education is the key, school is the lock!

“If you don’t build your dreams, someone else will hire you to help build theirs”

You have to work hard and be constant. People who have succeeded in life have dreams, and they fight to get it. So, keep calm and work hard, you will have a place between the winners.

“As long as you follow the rules and pass the exams, you’re cool”

I am totally agree with this sentence. This is the worst thing that a system can do. We are only evaluating the capacity to retain information and the capacity to throw out in a paper. Great teenagers with clear ideas haven’t had succeed in life for this way to work of our system.

“Looking at David Beckham is more than one way in this world to be an educated man”

This sentence has relation with what I have said in the other sentence. We have creat a system that only evaluate the capacity to retain information and things like that. I know we have to do this part because can be important in our future but we have to consider other qualities.  This example about Beckham is so clear. 

Interview with Santiago Niño Becerra

Santiago Niño Becerra is an important Spanish economist and a professor of Economic Structure in the University of Ramon Llull in Barcelona since 1994. He is the perfect man to answer my questions about this field, because I’m thinking to course a double titulation (Ade+law) but I don’t know if I will have enough mark.

Santiago, do you think this is a career with future?

Hello, of course, because the world turns around money and this will be always the same. Moreover, there a lot of careers in relation with economics and money, so you have a lot to choose.

Do you think I can have more possibilities to find a job coursing this career?

Obviously, because you will be more qualified than students who only course one career. With this degree, you will have knowledge about how to create and control a company and how to manage the fiscal part.

Thanks for your attention Santiago, I hope one day we will meet in an important discuss about economy.

Formal letter to Mr Rajoy

                                                                                                             C/Ponent, 15

Castelló d'Empúries

17486

2nd April 2014

Spanish government

C/ Mayor

18600

Spain

Dear Mr Rajoy

I am writing to ask about if you or your political party will do something that was exposed in your electoral programme, because with your way to work some human rights are in danger and that is a troublesome situation for Spain.

So, I am going to focus on only one human right. What can you say about the freedom of speech of Catalonia? Your political party always said Catalonia could not be independent because the Spanish Catalonia does not allow it. However, we can change some points of this Constitution because this has happened in our history often before. Are you really working for the population if this country?

I hope you will hear all the requests of all Spanish citizens to make a better place and respect human rights.

Yours sincerely,

Jaume

Are we too dependent on mobile phones?

Every day we are more dependent on new technologies and especially on our smartphones. So this is like a new revolution and, obviously, this can bring us some challenging consequences.

The first one and maybe the worst is the strong relationship with health. We spend the whole day with our smartphone and this can cause a big headache, serious problems with our view or other illnesses that specialists are looking into.

Another consequence that’s probably clearer to see is the social one. We can see in developed cities a lot of teenagers playing games or chatting with their smartphone. This can be a situation that everybody can understand but the strange thing is they are with their friends and they don’t talk, laugh or discuss among them, they are only focus with their mobile and teenagers make a life around this device.

To sum up, I think society is too dependent on their smartphones and especially teenagers, because these are the largest target and mobile corporations take advantage of this situation.

Can Money buy everything: the marketization of society?

Can Money buy everything: the marketization of society?

In our globalization society money and the biggest multinationals want to buy everything of human’s life and nearly they can get it. Nowadays these companies have bought a lot of moral feelings of the population like dignity, freedom and pride. We can see these in a lot of situations in our daily life. Michael Sandel gives us good and clear examples because he explains in detail all the situation discussing with the audience.

Sandel talks about the moral limits but I think we can’t talk about some situations if we haven’t suffered these. In my opinion we can’t say I don’t accept money from a big company because they want to establish a dangerous factory because we can have our father with cancer and something like that and we need money to pay the operation. 

Human Rights!

The human rights are the fundamental rights that every person have simply by the fact of being human. These were created after the Second World War be the United Nations when this came into being as an intergovernmental organization, with the purpose of saving future generations from the devastation of international conflict. So, after this global conflict there was the necessity to create and establish some rules for all the population trying to avoid another world war.

Nowadays there are thirty human rights and in my case I am not familiar with the 21^st.  I know there is freedom of expression in the Declaration of the Human Rights but I didn’t know about the fact that everybody has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

In our century we can see a lot of countries with a democracy and we think it’s obvious, but all over the world there are some countries without democracy because there are dictatorships. Specifically in EUA there is only one dictatorship (Cuba), another one in Europe (Belarus), 19 in Asia and 16 in Africa and we can stand out China, North Korea…

So, there are some populations that are fighting against these dictatorships.

What's a soulmate?

The prototype of a soulmate is different for everyone but in a general way we can describe it as a person with whom one has a strong affinity, shared values and sometimes a romantic relationship.

The relationship with a soulmate is so different from the others because these are more tenacious and profund. So when we are with a person and we feel better than with our friends, more secure and protected, then we know we are in front of our soulmate.

Moreover we have the tendency to look at this person into the eyes in a different way from the others because it's an intense relationship and you can't imagine a life without him or her.

As a conclusion I have to say everybody has a soulmate but maybe nobody has found him/her. So keep calm because the elements to know who is one are much clearer.

Koke says Atletico Madrid still have faith in their own ability

Atletico de Madrid was a club that nobody think about they can be in February battling for the league with Real Madrid and Barcelona. But the truth is they have been doing an extraordinary campaign and they deserve their feelings of win. In the first round their win Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu but now the situation has changed because Madrid is like a road roller because they don’t lose until December more or less and Atletico de Madrid had been losing the last three matches in Spanish league.

They don’t have to worry about this fact because every big team happen the same situation every year because of the physical effort. They have to stay strong and this Sunday they have to fight against Real Madrid to recover mentality forces and stay at the top of the league.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11835/9190523/primera-liga-koke-says-atletico-madrid-still-have-faith-in-their-own-ability

VOCABULARY:

Aware: conscient.

Faith: certeza.

Straight: recta.

Collins enters game as NBA's first openly gay player

The last week appeared in NBA news that Jason Collins had recognised his homosexuality. Everybody was so shocking because this was the first time in NBA history that happens, but we are in the XXI century and I think this has to be an irrelevant thing. In the atmosphere of the NBA was trending topic and everyone talks about this fact. Even there were some people thinking about the possibility that he can’t play this sport or intolerant things like that.

He said he only thinks about playing basketball and learn more things to be a better player, and that’s the character because a lot of rumours affect to the professionals. Maybe the globalization of information has affected a lot of professionals, and not only in this case of homosexuality.

NEW VOCABULARY

Coverage: “cobertura” tactical aspect of basketball.

Scheduled: “programat”.

Court: “pista de bàsquet”.

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/02/23/collins-makes-history.ap/ 

SELF-EVALUATION

TOPIC: In my opinion, my topic could be so boring for the students who don’t like history, but in my view, this was an interesting topic that’s why I have chosen this. 7%

PRESENTATION: In the TDR I used the Power Point but in the English class I have chosen the Prezi to change and to adapt me to some different programs. Bu in the two cases the presentation was so clear and structured. 7%

BODY LANGUAGE AND EYE CONTACT: I think I have to improve quite things, maybe look more the public and less the teacher. I have said this in all my English presentations but I think I have improved it. 7%

STRUCTURE: The structure was so clear. 10%

CONTENT: Like all my classmates, I have reduced all my TDR in two minutes and that’s so difficult because you only have to put the most important parts. But I think I have done it well. 32%

LANGUAGE: Enrich and improve my presentation with new vocabulary. I used connectors but I think I have to use new vocabulary, to improve my English and of course my presentation. Doing this I have known more technical vocabulary about my topic, and that’s so important. 17%

PRONUNCIATION: Every year and every presentation I think I have improved my pronuntation. The reason of this thing is I try to find the pronuntation on the Internet and then, practise a lot of time in front of a mirror. 8%

FINAL MARK: 8.8

Thinking about my future!!

The last week we had gone to Girona to see and visit the UdG. This university has different establishments in some different places of this city. Specifically I had visited the Economic and Business faculty. In this installation you could visit some different talks, and in my case I went to the ADE talk. They explain to us the prices, the subjects, how many years and some different things. But thy said an important thing for me: the next year they will introduce a new degree (ADE + LAW).

Since 2014 you can only study this career in Barcelona, but next year the UdG give to us an opportunity. But there is a big problem; there will be only 10 vacancies. I want to enter to this career because in only five years and a half I will have two degrees, so it’s a great opportunity.

Until selectivitat, I have to work hard to have sufficient mark and try to have more or less a 12 of 14 points. If I can’t go in this career, I will do only ADE.

Mothers feel guilt and lack of support on returning to work

Boing back to work after the maternity is a different feeling about some different mothers because of their way to think. A recent poll says more than three quarters of women felt guilty about going back to work after maternity for two clear reasons: the first one is because employers can be discriminatory with them entrusting them with less responsibilities and with fewer big or important projects, and the other one I because they felt guilty and at the same time mistrust because they think their children won’t be less good if they will stay with their mothers. This is a poll undertaken for The Work and Family Show.

In my way to think if a girl was a good employer the boss have to have the same trust with her although they have been mothers. But I know in this society, like in the XVIII century, have prejudices and judge people before knowing them, so I understand the opinion of these mothers, so they have to battle about their women rights.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/career/article3986995.ece

VOCABULARY:

Guilty: Culpable.

Hold down: mantenir.

Work-life balance: Equilibri entre la vida laboral i la vida familiar o social.

Students more worried about jobs than debt

In a crisis’ moment everybody are so worried about finding Jobs or pay their debts. The situation is really bad and all the countries perceive the crisis, nobody can escape, because we are in a globalization world and indirectly everyone observe this situation. According to an English poll the teenagers between 14 and 17, these are more worried about finding jobs than paying their debts. For these teenagers the reason is so clear, and these are the stereotypes of the companies about teenagers.

Well I respect this kind of way to see the world but I am totally disagree about this. They are teenagers and they have all the life and the situation can change, because the economy can overcome but if somebody have debts, these have to be paid by someone, nobody can escape from these. So I respect their opinion but I want to throw a message from these boys and girls. You have to study and be preparing about the future, but the situation have to change for the better someday, but the debts will be there always if you don’t pay it.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/article4009762.ece 

VOCABULARY:

Held: “retenir”.

Debt: “deuda”

Overwhelming majority: “aplastanta mayoría”.

Corruption in football

Football was only a sport, but since the last sixty years has become more than a sport, an important business. I say an important business because of the magnitude that has had in the last twenty years. Football has involved banks and had used money of the citizens. Maybe we don’t see this fact, but they request credits to pay the establishments and the signings. But the worst thing isn’t this because all the companies ask for credits in banks, the worst thing is there are a lot of clubs that have debts about 500 millions of euros.

The last case of corruption takes place in Barcelona, specifically in FCB. For Barça Neymar had cost 57 million of euros but have left some news about the real cost of this player and this circumstances have affect the job of Sandro Rosell, because they say there aren’t any irregularities in Neymar’s signing.

I don’t know what the reality is, but I know that football in the future, if the clubs do the same politic, will became only a business and not a show or sport.