SELF EVALUATION ABOUT THE DREAMS PRESENTATION

After watching the video of the presentation I did with Paula Caball last week, I can comment a little how it went and evaluate ourselves.

First of all, I think our visual resources were good: we used a Prezi and we also used a video to finish the presentation, which showed some curious facts about the topic. Also, I think we did it good in the part of body language and eye contact. We tried not to read our notes and to explain the things in our way, that's why we didn't memorize the notes exaclty, we only memorize the idea we had to explain and then we tried to explain the way we were comfortable. I think that's why we talked in a natural way and it was easy to pay attention to the presentation. 

About the structure, our presentation had a quite clear structure: we started explaining some theories of why we dream and then we extended more the information in Freud's theory, which is the most famous and interesting. I think that in this part we could have improved a little using more connectors than we did.

In my opinion, the content of the presntation was interesting. I find the topic about dreams very curious and I think a lot of people like to know about it and a little about our brain. We tried to explain the information in a way in which it could be understood and not too technical, because it would have been maybe boring. We also tried to use curious examples to make it a little bit more entertaining. 

In general, I think the part we could improve would be the language part. We did it well, but maybe we could have used a more varied vocabulary, with idioms or phrasal verbs, or again, more connectors and fillers. About the pronunciation and intonation, I think we pronounced the words quite well and, in my case, I think that if I tried to speak louder and more expressively, it would improve. 

In conclusion, I think we did a very good presentation but, of course, we can always improve things, for example some aspects of the language. 

PLASTIC BAG TAX IMPACT

In October 2015, a charge of 5p for plastic bags in the shops was introduced in the UK, and recently the conservationists have talked about the impact it has had on the beaches.

This tax was already in use in other parts of the country, such as Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland, and in the last place, they introduced it into England too.

After a little more than a year later, the Marine Conservation Society has informed that the amount of plastic bags on the beach has decreased a lot and the number of bags they found is the lowest they have found in 10 years time, and they are quite sure it is thanks to this charge. During the Great British clean, an annual beach clean, thousands of volunteers helped and cleaned the beach, which allowed seeing the actual impact this tax has had on the beaches, specially in England and Northern Ireland, where the number of plastic bags has decreased the most.

Therese Coffey, the environmental ministre, declared that the establishment of the 5p tax has been a such a success, not only because of the beach and environmental care, but for the money they have collected from the charges, which is destinated to charities.

But this tax is not the solution to everything the volunteers in the cleanings have noticed a rise of drink containers. That means that, even though the amount of plastic bags on the beach has been reduced, the problem of the drink containers and other kind of litter still needs to be solved, because it is harmful for the nature and for the animals, that can actually die because of this litter.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I think this is good news and I agree with the tax they imposed. This charge makes the people use more cloth or other reusable bags, which helps in the waste of less natural resources not renewable and in the preservation and no-pollution of the planet. But as the news says, this is not the final solution because there is still a lot of litter on the beaches and other natural spaces, which we should try to avoid.

VOCABULARY:

· Herald: proclamar

· Vindicate: justificar

· Levy: impost

LINK: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38053404

VAN GOGH'S SKETCHES

Recently the experts of the Van Gogh Museum, in the Neederlands, have claimed that some sketches that are attributed to the artist are not really by him.

Those sketches were published in a book by the art historian Bogomilia Welsh Ovcharov and on the book she presented them as sketches that the Van Gogh had painted during a stay in a french museum, in the city of Arles.

However, the experts working in the museum decided to study them in depth and they got to the conclusion that they were imitations. There are several reasons that make them believe this. They claim that the style of the drawings is not the one that characterises the period they are supposed to be drawn and also they are made with a brownish ink that has never been found in his drawings.

The author of the book and the publisher still stand up for the idea of the sketches being original, and say that the musem has been wrong other times. But even though the musem experts are quite convinced that they aren't, they are going to respect their opinion.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I found this news curious and it caught my attention the little “fight” between the musem experts and the author of the book. Of course, I can not take sides, because I know only a little about Van Gogh and his art and that's not enough to give a solid opinion, but I think the fact that the experts have studied the sketches deeply maybe gives their theory some strenght. However, they can definitely be wrong and mistaken.

NEW WORDS:

· Unveiling: inauguració

· Unrefined: incult, bast

· Depicted: representat

LINK: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37989885

"REVÀLIDES"

About two weeks ago, many high school students were in strike to protest against the called “revàlides”, that the Government wanted to implant for next year. Those are exams, which have to be taken at the end of ESO and Batxillerat, and that students need to pass in order to carry on studying. The strike had an effect on the Government, and finally they withdrew from his position and declared that the “revàlides” would be modified and taken down as the concept they were at the beginning. At the end of ESO, it will be just a diagnosis exam, to know the student's level; and in Batxillerat, it will replace the current Selectivitat (PAU).

Even though they have been finally removed, I would like to give my opinion about the “revàlides”, just as if they were still going to take place.

First of all, I think it's unfair that you have risk it all in just one exam. If you pass the subjects of Batxillerat, in principle, it means that you have the level you need to have, so there's no point in making you take an exam that, if for any reason you fail, won't allow you to keep studying. We can all have bad day and do a bad exam, but it doesn't mean we don't have the level that is required. However, although doing a bad exam in Selectivitat can also be prejudicial for you, it doesn't force you to stop studying and to be out of chances.

And the same happens with ESO, if you have been passing all those years, and you have passed all the subjects, why shouldn't you be able to do batxillerat?

Approving the “revàlides”, means that there won't be Selectivitat anymore, so the way to get into university will be taking an exam directly in the university you want to study. In my opinion, that's not practical. When they finish Batxillerat, a lot of students don't have 100% clear what and where they want to study. A lot of them are guided by their results in Selectivitat. Depending on the mark they get, they will be able to get in a degree or not, so once they know the results, the choice becomes easier. And the same happens with the universities: a lot of students maybe have a vague idea of where they want to study, and

they normally permamently decide after knowing the results, and after knowing in which universities they can get in. So having to decide a degree and a university in order to go there to take the exam, it's a lot more difficult. Adding the fact that maybe you won't pass that exam, so you should probably take more exams at other universities, which is more work, while Selectivitat is only one exam for each subject and then, after the results, it's easier to choose. Although I don't totally agree with Selectivitat system, it is much practical and it's better than “revàlides” system.

After declaring that they would remove the “revàlides” they considered at first, the Government talked about some changes in Selectivitat exams. The main change, which makes PAU exams more silmilar to the idea they had of “revàlides”, is to make the same exam for all the country. Currently there is a different model of exam for each autonomous community, but they talked about removing that and making only one model for all the

Spanish students. I don't agree with that neither, because even though there are things that are important for all the students in the country to know, there are other things that are only important in specific communities. For example, in Catalonia, it's important the catalanism topic and it's necessary to dedicate time explaining it to the students. But this topic is not as important in Extremadura, for example, and teachers there can mention it and explain it briefly, but they obviously won't dedicate as much time as catalan teachers do. That's why I think it isn't a good idea to have only one model of exam for all the country.

But luckily, it seems that this change won't be carried out at the end.

Fortunately, at the end, the “revàlida” in ESO won't have any effect on the students' grades, and the one in Batxillerat will be practicly the same as Selectivitat (I find quite stupid and illogical to change it, if practically it will be the same, but well this how they do the things in this country), which I'm happy about, because I think “revàlides” were such a bad idea. 

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

If we look back to some years ago, we'll see that our dependence on technology has increased a lot. Back then, technology was something useful that could make your life easier, but you could live without it.

Now, this has changed. Nowadays we depend so much on technology that we feel so lost when something happens and we can't access to it. We are at a point in which we tend to use internet for everything, even if it's something we could solve without it. And not only to solve problems, also in our free time is usual to use the internet or any other technology before doing an activity that doesn't require it. For example, let's say you have free time and you can choose between reading a book and sufing on the internet, a lot of people would choose the internet, although they don't actually want to look up for something specific, they'll just spend the time there.

I don't thing using the internet that much is bad: it's a useful tool and it increases a lot the activities you can do. But I think we should try to not to depend so much on it, because if one day we can't access to it, there will be a collapse of everything and a huge breakdown.

An little example of this that I have seen in the last weeks, is that recently, in the high school

there is a new rule: we can't use the mobile phones inside the buildings. When they told us, there was people who complaint and that was disgusted by this new rule. In my case, I rarely bring my mobile phone at school, because I don't feel like I really need it, but I can understand that people who are used to bring their cell phone at school don't agree with this new rule. They don't agree because it bans something they normally do and that is normal and usual for them. But in some people, it allowes you to see the dependence on the phone that they have. When you are inside the high school, between the classes, you practically don't have time to look at your mobile phone, only during the break time, which you spend outside, so you are allowed to use your mobile phone. So I thing this rule is not a big deal, and we should all be capable of being at least three hours without needing to check our phones. 

In conclusion, from my point of view, the internet and technologies are such good and useful tools, and we have to take advantadge now that we have them, but we have to be aware of how much we use them, in order not to create a situation of dependence and to be able to carry on with our normal lives in case one day we can't have access to it anymore.  

USA ELECTIONS

Yesterday, on the November 8^th, 2016, the United States elections for president were held, after seven years of Obama's presidency. The Democratic party was lead by Hillary Clinton, and the Republican one by Donald Trump, who finally won the elections and has now become the 45th US president.

In his victory speech, he adressed to all the people who didn't support him, saying that now it's time to work together to make the country better. He also mentioned his beaten opponent, Hillary Clinton, recognizing her hard work during the electoral campaign period, and he thanked her for all the effort. As they say in the news, this has been a major shock for the majority of the population and for the media, after all the forecasts had pointed out Clinton's victory. They compare this shocking results to the ones in the Brexit vote, in the UK.

Trump is not a conventional president at all. He was a reality TV celebrity, and he was rather new in the political world. But as we can see, this didn't stop him of beating other Republican candidates, who have been into poltics for years, and finally, of becoming the new US president. Another thing that makes him different was his kind of campaign, in which he counted with a small and disorganized group behind him. Also, the way he talked in his speeches and the things he said made him cause a major controversy, specially on the Internet, where most people were against him because of his ideologies. He is seen as a racist, homophobic and a misogynist. But on the other side, there was also people who gave him support, mainly because his determined personality, and for the declarations he made about United States needing a big change, and a government repair.

The news reports that the majority of Trump supporters are non-educated white people and that the fact that he was accused of sexual women assault, caused a decrease of women who voted him. Then, there is a mention to the famous wall between Mexico and US, that Trump said he would built if he became president.

Finally, the news concludes remembering the certainty a lot of people had of him not becoming the president of the country and his response to these thoughs, in which he showed that he was confident with himself and trusted in winning the elections, which he finally did.  

PERSONAL OPINION:

I'm not fully informed of all the election process in the United State, and I don't know a lot about the political programme of each candidate. What from what I know, I'm not very keen on neither of them, but if it's necessry to choose, I definitely choose Hillary Clinton. I think it's a shame that a person like Donald Trump, who is racist, misogynist and homophobic has become the president of the United States, and it actually scares me what can happen next, considering the importance and influence of that country in the whole world.  

VOCABULARY:

· Gleefully: alegrement

· Upend: enderrocar

· Flout: desobeir

· Forsee: preveure

LINK: http://time.com/4563685/donald-trump-wins/