MY ENGLISH SKILLS IN 2009

My best oral evidence:

From all the oral podcasts or presentations that I have done in 2009 I decided to present: "Different kinds of weddings" as the best one. This was an oral in which we talked about weddings in different cultures, I did it with a partner, Carles Torracabota, and I think we did a good work. And that not only because it was the presentation we got the highest mark for, but also because the topic was on the on hand very challenging, so we had to research a lot and on the other hand it was rather serious and we gave a lot of interesting information to our classmates.

From a more linguistic point of view, to us the presentation seemed natural which was a difficult goal to achieve because the topic did not have any relation to our every day life, and so we couldn't use any "personal, colloquial vocabulary" which made it difficult for us to feel at ease during the presentation. Because of that we included a lot of connectors which helped us to make a fluent presentation. Moreover we used a lot of funny pictures in our power point which made our classmates laugh and thus took the seriousness and the pressure out of the situation.

That is why, when applying for my university work I would choose the above oral evidence from my portfolio.

link: http://claudiasportfolio.blogspot.com/2008/11/httpwww.html

My best written evidence:

Choosing the best written evidence I had more problems than to choose the best oral, becaue during the last two years I have written ever so many composition, blogs, summaries... And I think that I did quite well in all of them. Yet, I have most definitly improved my writing and so I decided to present one of my last compositions. I have to say that commenting in the forums, etc... I've done a good job because they were short but compressed critics, so I doubted which choice to take, but in the end I chose: "The shepherd's dialogue", my composition from: 16/04/09 .

First of all I think in this composition I used my imagination to have an originall idea, presenting it in the style of a magazine. It seems that tradicional ways of writing are more serious and formal yet I tried to present an original idea in a very mature way.

A second argument for my kind of presentation was that the topic was not related to my life so, I thought by presenting it as a dialogue I could stay at the surface without entering into profund arguments, because it's really difficult to talk about something that you don't know anything about. It's because of that that I'm really proud of my work, which is also expressed by the high mark I got.

To summarize I want to say that after two years of writing my English has improved very much and that with this work I could prove that I can talk about almost everything in English.

link: http://claudiasportfolio.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-04-17T04%3A20%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

OBAMA WARNS AMERICANS OF FLU

Embedded video from CNN Video

President Obama talks about flu virus.


The american president is asking all Americans to take precautions to prevent the transmission of the flu virus.



He says that we are in a serious situation but that every american should know that the government is taking a lot of precautions.
He recommends to close some schols and bussines where there are childrens with the virus, and all the parents have to take care of they childs, and if it's necessary be at home as a precaution.
He also says that they have the necessary drugs, material and equipment to fight with the virus, so the situation is not out of control.
Finally he says that everybody have to take the same steps we take to prevent any other flu. These preventions are:
- Keep your hands wash, stay at home if you are sick...

VALUATION

To summarize a video news it's a difficult work, above all if Obama is the person who talk. His pronunciation is so close, he has an american accent which is difficult for me to understand, I had listent the video three times to understand all the news.


source: CNN

BILLY ELLIOT

Billy Elliot is an shy 11-year-old living with his miner father and older brother Tony during the political unrestfull times of the 1984 miner's strike.

Times are hard, Tony and his father spend their days fighting the police while Billy takes care of his senile grandmother and at the same time becoming a teenager.

Billy's father sends him for boxing lessons, but unfortunately, Billy isn't interested in expressing himself that way, he is much more interested in the ballet lessons next door.

When Billy's father finds out that his son has turned to dancing and not boxing, he bans him from taking classes. However one night he witnesses his son performing for schoolfriends and is so much moved by the boys passion that he sets about raising the money to send his son to London, to become a pupil of the Royal ballet.

After years of hard training Billy's father and brother are invited to one of his performances in London because Billy Elliot has turned into a succes.

CRITICS

It's a nice film which wants to teach us a good argument: follow your dreams and never give up trying.

On the other hand, from my personal point of view, some scenes are a little bit boring because I don't like dancing a lot.

The first person to receive a face transplant in the United States

Connie Culp is the first woman who has received a face transplant in the United States. Five years ago her husband shot her, so he destroyed her face, Connie's nose, mouth and eyes were completly deformed. She had surgery 30 times but her face didn't improve, so finally she received a face transplant.

The operation was so complicate, the doctors spend 20 hours to replace the 80% of her face, they used a face from an unname girl died. Connie Culp suffered a radical face transplant, but the final result is so good because she has the hability to talk, taste food... so the doctors are pride of their work, and she thanking the doctors who made this miracle possible.

The face was from an unname girl died,

Mike Sergeant reports- BBC NEWS

personal opinion:

This succes is amazing, on the one hand it's incredible how a man can destroy the life of his wife, I can't understand how people can do these things... they are completly crazy, but on the other hand is quite impressive how the doctors solve the problem, if you see the video you can see that the face of the woman it's a little bit strange... but, the matter is that she can do more or less a normal life... which, from my point of view, is the most important.

FASHION FAN OR FASHION SLAVE?

Are you a fashion slave, spending all your money on the latest clothes even if you don't look good in them, or a fashion fan, enjoying wearing modern clothes but not obsessed by them?

Every year London fashion week attracts retailers, fashion leaders... Oryginall desings and fabrics, and beautiful models are displayed on the catwalk in an atmosphere of glamour and elegance. However, is this translated into street fashion? How many of us actually follow the trends we see?

All of us need to be comfotable with what we wear, after all, first impressions count a lot in our society. Every day we are bombarded with magazines that show us the new fashions for each season, and they show shops where we can buy trendy clothes for reasonable prices. But, are these clothes similar to the clothes from the catwalk? The difference betwwen what we see on the catlwalk and what's people wearing in street is becoming increasingly blurred.

Lisa Armstrong, fashion writer for The Times newspaper, has questioned the motives of some designers, suggesting they seem out to get women, or at least make them look foolish.

Are fashion shows a cynical ploy to get the media in a froth or a valuable marketing tool for an important industry? Are fashion world misogyny?



VOCABULARY
retailers : people who sell things
blurred: if the distinction between two things gets blurred, it becomes harder to tell the difference between them
out to get women: made them harm, for instance by embarrasing them
cynical ploy: a self serving way of getting an advantage over someone
in a froth: talking excitedly but saying nothing serious
marketing tool: a way of promoting something

MY OWN OPINION

I completly agree that fashion can be mysogyny, every day they show in magazines, tv, advertismens... pretty girls, they are perfect but are they real? all we know that some of them are a product of a pc programme, so.. a lot of girls are worried about their bodies because an unreal thing, is that fair?

BBC NEWS

PSYCHOLOGISTS

There are more and more psychologists in our society, why? The answer is quite simple, first of all every day there are more people who study, so there are more people in each profession, but secondly because every day people need more psychological help, or they think so. Nowadays the stress, arguments, divorces... take a big place in our lives, and people give them a lot of importance in fact, they need "extra"-help.
From my point of view, and maybe I'm wron because a lot of people don't agree, is you have a real problem, a psychologist won't hel you because they can't give you anything, such as pharmacs, to control your body or you mind. On the other hand, if you have a personal and small trouble, why you have to pay, or worse, to wait a lot of time, only to seat in a chair and talk... he/she won't give you an answer to youy worries different from you family or friend's answer, but maybe you believe more in it because he is a professional, however this is not a hard argument. In spit of that, psychologist can give you an objective and mature solution, but personally, with doctors, and saying doctors I'm including psychiatrists, there is enough.
For years people have lived without them, and becauses they didn't know about their existence they weren't worried about simple and stupid things. Although nowadays, and luckily for these "consellors" people stress theirselves with more basic things and they go so quickly to look for help.

FLOWER POWER

The word "flora" is used in English to talk about all types of vegetation (in contrast to fauna: animal life) The Latin "flora" is the origin of the english word "flower".
The most important species of old world plants have Greck and Roman's names.

FUCHSIA:

This plant bears the name of the German doctor Leonhard Fuchs. The plant was given his name in the 18th century when his treatise and medicinal plants was still widely read.

VIOLET:

The Romans placed violets on the graves of the dead during the violet days. Violets were believed to reduce the adverse effects of excessive eating and drinking. The flower was linked to Aphrodite and as a result Christians associated it with lust.
Violet tea was believed to cure coughs, insomnia and stress.
Maybe I will drink a violet tea because I'm really stressed this year.

In my opinion the world of flowers is really big and interesting, every day science people discover more and more flowers whic are nice but above all have different propietes which can help us; In my research project, for instance, I analysed some plants like "onagre" which will help you to reducte your cholesterol's levels if you eat it.

VOCABULARY:

To bear = carry, have...
Teatrise: Writting, book...
Widely: extensively
Lust: sexual desire

Think in english magazine

Shepherd

CLAUDIA'S MAGAZINE issue 04/09

Being a shepherd now, has certainly nothing to do with being a shepherd 50 years ago. Ew wanted to Know more about this "dying" profession so we interviewed a shepherd from Reure a town where there are still people working int the traditional way.

R: Hello Mr. Josep, I'm a reporter from "Claudia's magazine" and you have agreed to vgive us an interview. Here is my first question: Do you think that being a shepherd is a profession that is dying out?

J: I hate to admit it but you are right! Every day, more and more, machines are replacing my work, I can't have as many sheep as before because lots of the fields are being built on...

R: Oh, I see! Do you think that the increasing population is also a threat?

J: Yes, most definetly! More people means more cars and less time.

R: More cars means that it's more dangerous for the sheep to cross the road, isnt't it? But waht do you mean by less time?

J: You see young lady, some years ao hardly anybody had a car and nobody mainded waiting for my sheep to cross the road. Now everyboddy seems to be in a hurry!!

R: Well, I'm not... let's continue with the next question: Compared to the olden days, which parts of the sheep do you use now?

J: Years ago everybody knew that my sheep were the best, not only did the people buy the meat and the milk but also the wooll or the products that my wife made out of it.

R: Like what?

J: Well, we sold jumpers, scarfs, slippers... and they were pretty nice and comfortable...

R: I guess they were.

J: Thank you! But nowadays with the people being lazier, sumpermarkets offering everything prepeared in plastic bags, and fashion clothes shops at every corner the competition is just too hard for a single sheperd.

R: Well, Josep, that sounds very dull, I'm sure there must be something that you enjoy after all...?

J: Of course I do, I still love my job and above all I like being outside.

R: Thank you for your time and the interview, good luck for the future!

dialogue.

SARAH!

Sarah is a 25-year-old girl from Scotland and she explaind us some interesting things:
She is working in the university of Murcia and in a Private academy as an Enlish teacher, but this isn't the first time that she's in Spain; some years ago she was teaching at our high-school and we spent a good time with her. Then she was doing and Erasmus and she said that she hadn't learn a lot of spanish, so she gave us advice based on her experience: "if one day you have the oportunity to do an Erasmus you should never go with a partner from the same country than yours, because you won't learn the language as good as an experience on your own."
She loves travelling and above all she loves Spain, she is here another time to learn the language and about the culture better; it is because of that that now she is learning how to ski... she said that she isn't really good at it, before that she played socker and she was quite good.
She also explained us different things about the UK, in particular about Scotland. The UK is formed of different countries:
Scotland, the capital is Edimburg, England: London, Wales: Cardiff, Northon Ireland: Belfast. She commented that normally when people go to the UK they visit London and she recommended to visit different places because London is really touristy, so the other places are more typical English and nicer.
Scotland, for example, is famous because of its country-side, above all in the north of the country there are a lot of green places. About the weather she said that it's really cold, it's always raining... In sumer there are only two or three weeks of sunshine. I couldn't live in a country like that... I love suymmer and mainly sun!
The typicall food of Scotland is Haggis, whic is made by all the cow parts that we don't eat... I don't want to try it!
She alswo talked about famous scothish people like: Jean Connery, Alex Ferguson, Andy Murray...
Summarizing, she talked about a lot of different things, about her life, about her country... and everything was quite interesting, above all because we could listen a real english accent but different from London's pronunciation so it was a good experience.

:)