The environment

We all want to protect our planet, but we're mostly too busy or too lazy to put up big change that would improve our lifestyle and save the environment.

These are 4 simple habits to implement in your everyday life which will make a difference. There is nothing new here but if you follow at least some of these tips, you can be proud of yourself participating in the protection of the environment.

First of all, use compact fluorescent light bulbs. It is true that these bulbs are more expensive, but they last much longer and they can save energy and in the long term your electricity bill would be reduced. 

The second one is donate because you have tons of clothes or things you want to get rid of. If they are still usable, give them to someone who needs them. You may also choose to give them to associations. These associations may sell them and collect a little money. Not only will you protect the environment, but you will also contribute to a good cause.

The next one is turn off your devices, when you do not use a house device, turn it off. For example, if you don't watch TV, turn it off. Turn off the light when you leave a room (even if you intend to return.) It's an easy habit to take up which will help you save a lot of money.

 And finally, walk or cycle. Driving is one of the biggest causes of pollution. If you want to use your car, ask yourself the following question: do I really need my car? Walk or use your bike if the journey is a short one.

Techno-lovers

First, take a step back and get to know the facts of the matter. Read on to learn about the proven pros and cons of social networking for teenagers.

It’s not just teenagers who think social networking is cool. Researchers and survey groups have found social networking provides many benefits. For example: Social networking is an extension of teens’ real-world friendships. It helps them enrich and manage their social lives. Socializing online can give shy, socially awkward teens a comfortable way to communicate -- one that’s less intimidating than meeting face-to-face. This can boost their self-esteem and help them practice their social skills. Teens with unusual interests or hobbies find kindred spirits online, giving them a place to share information and enthusiasm. Kids who have disabilities or other challenges can communicate with other teens with similar problems. This lessens their sense of isolation and allows for mutual support.

Studies and surveys reveal that social networking exposes teens to certain risks. For example: Online bullying and harassment by peers, also known as cyberbullying. This may be the biggest online danger to kids. It’s often an extension of bullying that takes place at school but can be just as damaging, if not more so. Learn more about cyberbullying. Online predators. While being harassed or stalked online by adult predators is far less common than cyberbullying, any incident is one too many. Less face-to-face interaction with family and friends. Researchers are studying the effect of this trend on kids’ social development, but the long-term effects aren’t yet known. Teach Your Teen to Socialize Safely Online. 

Adverts and commercials

We live in a world of advertising. It is a world of our making, of course. We don't like to pay the full price of things, so we allow other people to pay part of that price in exchange for letting them pass a message to us. So, we open up the pages of our favorite magazine, and there are glossy ads for clothes, shoes, cars, or beer. We turn on the television, and smiling faces on television try to sell us soup, toothpaste, candy, and politicians.

The reason that we accept all this advertising is that we assume that we can tune most of it out. If we don't pay attention to the ads, then they won't have that much of an affect on our behavior. Sure, the makers of commercials can try to jack up the volume, but at least we have the right to look away.

Teenagers

Adolescence is a very complicated time. It´s a time of changes in which you find yourself. Also it´s a time in which you can choose your friends. Teenager´s society is divided in many groups: populars, nerds, rebels, bad boys, gothics, skaters, people who is invisible and the rest who is normal. Well, a teenager wants to fit in one of this groups but sometimes things slip through your fingers.

People do things that they´ve never done before like smoking and drinking even know that is unhealthy. Everything because they want to be cool and of course they want to be accepted by the rest. Seriously, I can´t understand what is the point. On my opinion, it´s not necessary to smoke or drink to fit in a stupid group. You have to be yourself and if the rest of your “ friends” don´t like it, then you´ll probably have to reconsider to find new friends.

Also it is not necessary to smoke or drink to have fun. You can go out with your friends to a pub and dance or just talk about your lifes. Of course you can drink but to some extent. Maybe you think that this way to have fun with friends is a little bit boring but honestly I prefer to remind what I did last night. 

Sports

I love sports, especially athletics. I used to practise athletics three days per week but one year ago I started my last year at Secondary School so now I practise it with less frequency than before but I can´t stop doing this sport because it´s like a way to forget all my problems during two hours. In fact, I met my best friend in the athletic track so this sport is very special for me.  Also I like doing others sports like football, handball, volley, badminton, basketball…

On the other hand, I like watching sports on TV, the Olympic Games are my favourite, last one, it was in London in 2012 and it was incredible, I loved it. Someday I would like to go to the Olympic Games.

 However, I´ve never tried any extreme or dangerous sports like bungee jumping because I´m scared of the rope is broken or something similar and I value my life.

Doing sports is healthy for your body and also for your mind. But I agree to some extent, I mean there are a lot of advantages of doing sports of course but also there are many disadvantages. Sport is a hobbie, you can practise it alone or with your friend wherever you want, or in some cases it is a way to life but it is not an obligation. Each person have their limits and you must to know where are yours and don’t exceed it because if you exceed your limits you probably could get injured for the rest of your life so don’t be obsessive.

Winning Prizes

Someday if I won the lottery, I would travel around the world because It’s my dream to know new countries and cultures. Also I would donate money for charity, so I´m not a greedy person. But in case I was rich, I was still working because I want to earn my own money, for that reason I´m studying a degree at University, I mean the fact of winning the lottery is just a stroke of luck.

On my opinion the main idea of being millionare is that you don´t have to worry about anything, I mean when you go shopping if you are rich you don´t have to look at the prize of any product because you can afford it. But honestly I don´t like people who think that they are better than the rest of the people just for being millionaire. You have to keep your feets in ground.

As a teenager, I think that winning the lottery is the answer to our problems because when you are young you have a lot of dreams and you want to comes it true. But I´ve said before winning the lottery is just a stroke of luck and the reality is that if you want something you have to work hard to pay for it.

My Future

I’m going to be honest, I have really no idea what I’m going to do after finish my Degree in English Studies. At the moment I’m more worried about pass all the exams and get my title than think about my future. Recently I have been talking about this with my parents and they said to me that I could be an English teacher but the problem is that I don´t really like the idea at all, I mean I love English but I think is boring to come to class, sit down in a chair and explain the same theory every year.

On the other hand, I love literature and history so if I was a teacher I would like to teach one of them. But also I love reading books and translate them from English to Spanish or viceversa so that is the reason why nowadays I´m seriously thinking about apply for a job in a publishing house.

However, before make a decision I would like to travel to England or Ireland as ERASMUS student to improve my English and if I liked the experience probably someday I could live there.  

Education Problems

Ineffective communication between parents and teachers can be a major obstacle when trying to solve problems with students, but fortunately it can be improved. Let's first examine the two major causes of communication dysfunction.

Teachers judge the parents of their students all the time. They judge them based on students' language, hygiene, dress and social skills. Parents judge teachers, too, based on comments from their children. "What did you learn in school today?" is usually followed by, "Nothing." Sometimes children accuse teachers of being unfair, picking on them, being prejudiced or a myriad of other questionable treatments.

So parents and teachers judge each other constantly, and the sources of their judgments are kids, often with a vested interest. Good kids want their parents and teachers to like each other. Troubled students want the opposite. Many children can, in their eyes, benefit from animosity between parents and teachers; and they play one against the other. This is a dysfunctional form of communication.

The second problem is called "dumping." When ineffective, frustrated or angry teachers call parents about their child, they tend to "dump" the problem in the parents' lap. They tell what offense the child committed, and state that the parent must do something about it. This is no more effective than a parent calling a teacher about a problem at home and asking the teacher to fix it. Parents dumping on teachers is also common. They claim the teacher is responsible for a child's bad grades, bad behavior or bad attitude. They demand that the teacher must change. Parent dumping is growing, reaching dangerously high levels with less respect and belief in the professionalism of the teacher. When parents and teachers blame each other and make unreasonable demands, the one who suffers the most is the child. Blame creates no winners and lots of losers.

Parents and teachers have the same goal, and therein lies the remedy for these problems. Both want the best for the student. Removing the child from parent/teacher communication process can alleviate much of the communication dysfunction. I don't mean that children should be left out totally. There is certainly an important place for the child to be part of the process. But there is also a place for teachers and parents to build a relationship of their own. Both need to talk directly to each other.

Space Debris.

What would you do if you find a weird object near to your house? Well, this happens in Murcia a couple of days ago, one person found a mysterious black ball in the middle of a field and inmediatly called to the police. Locals suggest that the mysterious ball " fell from heaven". It is said that the object probably is part of a " space station" and maybe is dangerous for the environment.

There is a speculation that the orb could be container because expulses gasses  which are not good for the environment. Also it is said that the object could be radioactive. All these things have been warning to the Murcia goverment which put the area under quarantine and investigators are researching the object in case it is dangerous.

However this is not the first time that it is happens because a smilar object was found before  in Australia and Brazil.

To sum up, finally the mysterious ball was researched and experts concluded that the object is just a part of a satellite and the most imprtant thing is that it doesn´t cause any kind of environmental problems so we don´t have to worry about.

Outlining an Essay

People should read more. 

I. Reading books should be obligatory at school.

II. Mental benefits.

     

     A. Develops clear thinking.

     B. Improves concentration.

III. Writing benefits. 

  

     A. Avoid spelling mistakes.

     B. Increase your vocabulary. 

   

IV. Therefore, to improve your writing and to relax your mind, consider reading books. 

Man on the Edge

In the video there is a man who goes to an hotel. The bellboy go with him to the bedroom but he forgets to give the man the key of the bedroom so he returns but there is anybody on it. The bellboy puts his head out of the window and he sees the man on the edge of the window. He calls to the police who comes very quickly. Then a police tries to persuade him to not jump. Suddenly, a spacecraft appears and the marcians capture the man and take him to their planet.

Solution paragraph by Patricia

Dear Ana,

I think this is a big problem that affects women in the world. My solution is the following, if you know a girl or a woman who probably is having machism by a man, you can talk with her and help her in everything, You should tell her that she call to the police. The man will be under arrest and the girl wiil have a good life.

The problem

My topic for today is the machism. At least one of three women worlwide has suffered throughout her life an act of domestic violence ( rape, abuse, harassment..). But these women are not able to ask for help and there are two reason for that. On the one hand, they are scared of their partners. On the other hand they deffend to their partners because they are in love with them and women say that her husband would never hurt them. Probably there are more reasons but these two are the only thing that occurs to me right now.

Write a comparative/ contrast paragraph

Punk music and Classic music are a  very different kind of music. On the one hand, punk music is more heavy and rude, while classic music is more slow and in my opinion a little bit boring. On the other hand, the clothes, punk people usually wears black or white clothes or they sometimes dye their hair and even they rip the T-shirt and the jeans, however people who likes classic music is elegant because they usually wear suit and tie if is a men and a dress if is a woman. Another different is that punk concerts are usually in stadiums, while an opera is played in a concert hall. Also punk concerts are cheaper than an opera concert. Finally, you can play a punk song in a party and have fun with your friends whithout disturb to your neighbours of course, while if you play an classic song in a party I'm sure that everyone is going to kill you. I think that classic music is used to study or to relaxing.

My opinion paragraph

My topic for today is "Living without a TV". Almost every family has a TV, in fact probably more than one, and people everywhere spend hours watching it. But a few families choose to live without a TV because they think there are advantages. Families spend more time talking to each other or doing more creative things like reading or painting and even they spend more time outdoors. I think this way to live is fine but it's a little bit boring, you have always the same rutine. On the other hand, What happend with the children? I mean, children who don't have TV may feel different from their school friends and often won't know what they are talking about. Also, it is not true that all TV programmes are bad. There are good ones like documentaries and people who live without a TV  may know less about what's happening in the world. On my opinion, although living without TV has some advantages, I think today it's unrealistic and that we should just try to turn the TV off when there's nothing good on. 

Peer response for me by Loreto Beviar Gallego.

 

     Dear Ana, the organization of the ideas is very good, you started step by step. Firstly when you met your best friend and secondly how many yers you know her. In the next step, you talked about her personality and her appearance using very good adjetives. About the content, you give important and specific information and this is essencial to understand what you want to transmit us about your friend. Another point that i would like to tell you is the use of connectors, if you use more connectors you will have a perfect paragraph. Good job Ana! :)

Someone who i admire...

       I'm going to talk about my best friend, Gema. I met her six yers ago when we were 12 years old at the track of athletics because we were in the same team, since then we are best friends. On the one hand, her appearance. She has straight long brown hair, green eyes, big lips, small nose and she's as tallest as me. On the other hand, her personality. She's extrovert, funny sociable, independent and reliable, Also she's sensitive and sometimes a little bit stubborn, it's difficult to change her opinion about something. At the moment, she is studying medicine in Barcelona and I miss her so much but we keep in touch by WhatsApp ans Skype. I love her and I'm sure that she'll be the best neurologist in the world because she works hard and she deserve it. 

Trying to describe what Guernica makes me feel.

           Picasso is representing the Spanish civil war in this painting, which was between 1936-1939 and his end was tragic with the victory of Franco and a lot of deaths. After that everything changed in Spain. So I think that the feelings that Picasso wants to show with his painting are the smell and the despair of the spanish poblation. It's easy see what the painter wants to transmit us and makes me feel sad and pesimist.

Poem "Fear"

FEAR

Fear of darkness.
Fear of highs.
Fear of not being enough.
Fear of being judge.
Fear of making bad decisions.
Fear of losing important people in my life.
Fear of not being myself.
Fear of disappointing my parents.
Fear of scary movies.
Fear of future.
Fear of loneliness.
Fear of ghost of the past.
Fear of death.
Fear of not making new friends.
Fear of not enjoying my life enough.
Fear of sham.
Fear this day will end on a tragic way.
Fear of waking up to find you gone.
Fear of not loving and fear of not being loved back.
Fear of falling in love.
Fear of saying goodbye.
Fear of falling in love.
I've said that.

PRE-WRITING: GETTING READY TO WRITE

The other day in class we learn a process called pre-writting.But what is pre-writing? Well,before you begin writing, you must decide what you are going to write about. 

First, you can choose a topic that isn't too narrow but also too abroad. For example, there are five topics that you can write about : festivals, friends, my country, dancing and cars. Choose one, for example My country and you can write about the secondary school in your country or the university entrance exams. 

The next step is The Brainstorming which is a way of gathering ideas about a topic. You must write down every idea that comes to you and don't worry about whether the ideas are good or silly that isn't important because your imagination is free. Well, in this process there are three types of brainstorming: Making a list, Freewriting and Mapping. 

First make a list with phases or sentences that are connected to your topic. Then freewrite whatever comes into your head about your topic, without stopping. Finally, make a map, use a piece of paper and write your topic in the middle with a circle around it. Then put your idea in the circle below your topic and connect the circles with lines. That's all.