FINAL REFLECTION

Second of batxillerat has come to an end, and this means the end of many things, including this blog. It was created two years ago, when I was in 4th of ESO and since then, I have been posting different tasks, news and, what I enjoyed the most, my opinions and thoughs in the so called "my worlds" and "your says". 

Posting writings during two years should mean that my level of english has increased, so I'm going to compare my last writing with my very first one, to see if it is really like this. 

Going back to my first post I've realized it was a bucket list, which is not very good to compare with a writing, so I'm going to use my second post, which was a writing talking about my hero. (http://imnotpineapple.blogspot.com.es/2014/10/my-hero.html). And my last post was a news about human rights (http://imnotpineapple.blogspot.com.es/2017/05/jehovahs-witnesses-banned-in-russia.html).

At first sight, what I can see is that the first post was shorter, but it was probably because it was a task in which I didn't have a lot to say, and seeing my first "my worlds", I can see that the long posts are not something new. About the structure, the "My hero" task wasn't practically structured. With this I mean that I started talking about my hero, just giving information about it, and then I explained why I admired him. Instead, in the last post there is a very marked structure: the summary of the news, my personal opinion and the vocabulary. (although maybe it's not a good exemple to compare, considering that the news structure is given by the news pattern). Talking about the content, I think I've improved my writings because of the topics I'm talking about. When I started the blog, a lot of the topics were given as tasks, so sometimes I didn't have a lot to say, or other were chosen by me but were not very interesting. And even though I have been running out of things to talk, I think the content of my posts has become more interesting throughout time. Another thing that in my opinion has improved is the fluency. In the My hero post I notice in some parts a lack of connectors, which make it be less fluent, and instead, in the last posts of my blog I tried to use new connectors and to be more fluent. And finally, about personal development, I can say that I've noticed it, not only looking at these two posts, but in all the blog in general. It is related a little bit to what I said about the evolution of the topics and also the way I talk about them, which has become more mature. 

Talking about oral presentations or podcasts, I think my best one was the presentation about a gap year I did last year with Paula Caball and Paula Valenzuela (http://imnotpineapple.blogspot.com.es/2016/05/self-evaluation-oral-presentation.html). I've chosen this one not because of the language or the accuracy doing the presentation, because I think that more or less in all my presentations I've had a similar level, but for the way it was done. We tried to make it original and make up a story to fit the presentation in. So all of us played a different role (a girl who wants to do a gap year, a travel agent who helps her and an african women she meets during her gap year). With this little "theatre" we were able to explain the benefits of taking a gap year, the details about accomodation and different aspects of the country of which we were talking  about: South Africa. So I think it was one of my best oral presentations because of its originality.

And about the written post, one of my favourites is also one from first of batxillerat, in which I talk about dog's abandonment. (http://imnotpineapple.blogspot.com.es/2015/11/dogs-abandonment.html). It is a your-say in which I share my opinion about the topic and I give some solutions that, from my point of view, could help in the decreasing of dog's abandonment. It's one of my favourites because it's a topic I care about and I wrote it very fluently. But also, I have to mention the love essay I did this year with Paula Caball (http://imnotpineapple.blogspot.com.es/2017/03/love-essay.html), because I'm also very happy with the result. This was a task that required more work, because we had to look for information about the topic on the internet and then use it in our essay at the same time we were giving our opinion. That's why I'm happy with the result and proud of our work, because I think we did a good essay, using good references, good vocabulary and good grammar and structures. 

LABOR EXPLOITATION

Have you ever thought about job conditions in all the country? We all tend to think about our situation and the sirtuation of those who are close to us, but, what about the worst job situations in the country?

One thing to consider is that the majority of the people who suffer this bad conditions are immigrants who come from underdeveloped or more poor countries. They come to Spain looking for a better life situation and what they find is people taking advantage of their needs and desperation to use them as "slaves". They are not slaves, but their situation is practically the same. In a lot of cases, no one forces them to work, but they have to do it in order to eat, so they have to put up with labor exploitation. This consists in working for too many hours, in very bad conditions and for a miserable salary.

In addition to this, for a lot of Spanish people immigrants are seen as "job thieves", who come here and steal jobs that should be for people of the country. Personally, I do think immigrants take jobs Spanish people could do, but many times is because people in the country don't want to do them, because of their bad conditions. 

To conclude, I think we should pay more attention to this kind of situations, which are more common than we think, because immigrant people should be considered the same way as anyone, as people.

INFORMAL LETTER

Esplais Street, 17

17486 Castelló d'Empúries, Girona, Spain

20th April 2017

Hello, Marcus!

How are things going? I hope everything is okay. I've been thinking lately and I would like to talk about something with you. 

I've noticed you spend a lot of time on your phone and some times we've hang out together, I've felt like you were giving more attention to your mobile phone than to me. It's not that I'm upset about it, it's just that I'm worried about you. I think you should try to stop using it too much, even if you try to do it step by step. I think you'll feel better, because maybe at the beginning you'll need to use it all the time, but at the end you'll see that you will enjoy real life a lot more! I hope you think about it and consider my advice.

Can't wait to hear from you.
Take care, 

Mar Oliva

DESCRIPTION OF A SOULMATE

I think it is difficult to describe a soulmate or life-partner. Well, you can describe how you would like it to be, but it is almost impossible that you find a person like that, and maybe it can even happen that you find someone similar but you don't end up liking him or her. That's because you find your soulmate when you meet him or her and you can't really know if a person similar to what you consider your soulmate should theoretically be, is going to fit with you in reality. 

But, anyway, I'm going to try to describe what I would like my soulmate to be. About the physical appearance, I like guys with tanned skin and brunette and straight hair. I really like green eyes or any other colour, and I would prefer him to be taller than me. But physical appearance is not very important, if I like the person, it doesn't matter what colour his eyes are or his hair is.

About his personality, as I'm a shy person, I would like him to be extroverted and also more active than me, because I'm quite calm, but not extremely active, because then we wouldn't get along very well. Something I would apreciate a lot in a life-partner is humour, if he made me laugh or had a similar sense of humour it would be perfect. And about his interests, I think it is good to have the same interest in some things, because it can allow us to enjoy those things together, but I also think it would be good if he was interested in things I'm not interested in, because it could make me discover new things, or simply distinguish us in some aspects.

In conclusion, physical appearance and personality depend a lot on each person and I don't think there is a perfect combination that my soulmate should have. However, I think we should agree in some important aspects of life, to allow the relationship to keep going. 

HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights are those rights you have for simply being a human being, so everyone has these rights and, theoretically, they have to be respected, despite their nationality, their  age or their gender.

Human rights are considered to be born in 539 BC, when Cyrus the Great, after conquering Babylon, set all the slaves free and he allowed them to follow any religion they wanted. This was written on a clay cylinder, known as the Cyrus Cylinder. This is considered the creation of the human rights. Along history, some of these rights have been both respected or violated, depending on the period of time and influenced by the different revolutions or historical events. After the II World War, in 1945, countries decided to unite forming the ONU, the first organization to establish which ones were the human rights that we now know. They wrote them down in the called Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that contains all the human rights, that make a total of 30 of rights. 

Among all the human rights, I've chosen the number #16, which is the right to family and marriage, which says that everyone (despite of their religion, race or nationality) has the right to marry and found a family, maintaining their rights during the marriage and in case it dissolves. It also says that marriage has to be allowed by both spouses and that the family is a natural group which is entitled to protection by society and the State.

I've chosen this one because I think that it isn't fair not to allow someone to form a family or to marry who they want. Normally the part that is violated is the marriage one, because in some countries, such as Egypt or India, homosexual couples are not allowed to get married, and sometimes also people from different nationalities or races. It is also violated in countries in which they allow forced marriage, even if one of the spouses doesn't agree with it, for example many countries in Africa and Asia. It is respected in countries like Spain and other occidental mentality, in which everyone has the right to get married and to form a family. Of course, I think it should be respected everywhere, because people should be always free to marry whoever they love and to love whoever they want, which is something that doesn't harm anyone. 

NEW WORDS:
· tremble: tremolar

LONDON TASK

For the London project Paula Caball and me decided to to the option of explaining a picture in the National Gallery. We chose the Arnolfini Portrait, because we had seen it in History of Art at school, and we already knew a little bit about it, apart from the fact that we think it's very well painted. Here's the video we recorded there.

LOVE ESSAY

Do men and women view love differently? 

To answer that, it is necessary first to demonstrate if the differences between men and women affect love. Because it is scientifically demonstrated that men and women are not identical, genetically talking: their brains are slightly different. For example, as Dr. Ruben Gur says, a neuroscientist from the University of Pennsylvania, the reason why men and women can view love in a different way “is a matter of how we’re built, not what we learn”. So the conception of love changes depending on the gender, not on the society or the school or family environment you have grown up on. About this fact, even though is it said by a scientist, we don’t agree with it. First, we don’t have to believe everything a scientist says just because he or she is a scientist, because we all know science has been wrong about some things in the history of humanity. Like, for example, Newton’s theory, that although it is scientific, nowadays we know that it’s not exactly true. Therefore, we don’t agree with the sentence that men and women view love in a different way because they are built differently. Well, it is true that this fact can affect to the conception of love, we cannot deny it, but we don’t have to forget that the environment you have grown on also affects it. And with environment, we mean society. Directly or indirectly, society makes you behave some way or another depending on the gender. For example, society makes girls be beautiful, delicate and passive, the typical princess waiting for her charming prince;

contrarily, boys have to be brave, strong, but also polite. Or, also, when couples go out to have dinner, men always have to pay, and give flowers to women from time to time. Men have also to be the first ones to ask a woman out. These kind of things are roles that have been there from a long of time ago (fortunately, now are starting to change), and some of them people don’t really notice that they are conventional, and they directly accept them. But, as we just said, they are conventional, they are roles that society has created, but we are able to change them too; and that’s what some people is trying to do now. So, summarizing, we agree that the constitution of men and women are different, and they can affect the way each gender sees love, but our environment also plays an important role in the way we conceive love. 

In addition, talking about other scientific theories that corroborate that men and women see love in a different way because of their genetic constitution, there’s one study that says that men and women also communicate different during times of high emotion; while men are more likely to shut up when the tension is at its maximum, women tend to keep talking, and get mad when the other person stops talking to them. There are also researches which affirm that men are more insensitive and impatient, and more fragile than girls medically and emotionally. This means that boys are more likely to have birth defects and are more easily stressed during their childhood, among other things. Finally, it’s a documented fact that old men are more likely to die after losing his or her partner than women. Therefore, in summary, men are more reactive to emotion than women, so this fact can influence the way men and women love. 

So, with these arguments, it is demonstrated that men and women are slightly different about the way they react to certain situations, which can be related to love. So genetics influence the way man and women love, even though the difference between them is not huge and, obviously, there can be exceptions. We’re not sure if these characteristics really affect the way men and women view love because, as we said, we believe that society has an important role in making the two genders view love differently.

Should boys always ask a girl out or can a girl ask out too?

Is a girl who asks a boy out too daring? Tradition has always told that boys are the ones who have to ask a girl out. That is the romantic way, the way it appears in romantic books, films and in the well-known princesses films, which have a major influence on little kids, especially girls, but also on boys. Nevertheless, it doesn't mean it is the way it has to be done.

The stories we are told since we are little and the society in which we grow up have an important role in our view of the world and its different aspects. In the case of asking out, it's not only the fact that films show that are always boys who ask girls out, but the fact that they, maybe unintentionally, teach girls they should never ask a boy out. There are several consequences, that are usually related with the “what will the people think?”, that can make a girl being afraid of asking a boy out, as Erin Tatum exposes on the article published in the Everyday Feminism Magazine. For instance, girls are taught that asking a boy out makes them take the boy's role in the relationship, causing, on the one hand, making the girls more masculine and, on the other hand, showing the boy as if they were weak. This happens due to the fact that boys are normally supposed to have the lead role in a relationship, getting to the point that if they don't ask the girl out, they are not a “real man”, Erin Tatum says; which shouldn't be like this at all. Yet, as it has been said before, that is society's influence on us. Another teaching given to us is that a girl asking a boy out shows desperation. For many, the fact that a girl asks a boy out means that she can't wait any longer for him to ask her out, and this shows a girl obsessed and desperate. And from our point of view, this is a sexist way to see it, considering that when a boy is chasing after a girl, even when she has told him she doesn't want anything, as Tatum declares, “rather than a sign of creepiness or desperation, this is meant to be perceived as endearing”, while when it is the other way round, it doesn't play out like this. One of the last points the author of the article exposes, is the “unsexiness” of the girl taking an active role. She claims that a girl having agency is seen as someone not sexy and cold-hearted, something in which we don't agree, since many men have admitted being attracted to women who hold the reins of the situation. 

All the same, these consequences shouldn't stop girls from asking boys out or society is never going to change. In fact, one of the reasons for girls to do it is to change the situation and show the world that because one thing has been one way for many years and decades, it doesn't mean we have to live with it and stop fighting to change it. This is exposed on the article posted on the online magazine Elite Daily, written by Alexia LaFata, in which she gives several reasons to encourage girls to ask boys out. These reasons are related both on the good results it can have and on the empowering of the female figure and the woman itself. Some reasons LaFata uses to encourage the girls to do it are, for example, that the boy can be too shy to make the move or that you'll get answers about his feelings towards you instead of keep worrying about it and overanalyzing every situation to get to a conclusion. And also, she points out important aspects, such as making decisions by yourself, which should make you aware of the powerful woman you can be, because, as she says, “taking control of what you want is one of the most powerful things a woman can do”. And, in addition, it will help to make you gain self-confidence and, therefore, be happy with yourself, as well as more independent. 

However, this is not an opinion everyone shares, and there is still people who are much attached to tradition and don't feel like a woman should ask a man out. In the article The Nice Girl's Guide to Asking a Guy Out, published in the online magazine Psychology Today, Jen Kim explains a case of Michele Bachman, a Republican candidate who revealed that she didn't let her daughters ask a boy out. She also exposes the case of a dating expert, Evan Marc Kratz, who claimed that girls shouldn't ask boys out if they don't want to be seen as “desperate or masculine”, and that instead, they should use their traits to make the boys ask them out. We totally disagree with both Bachman and Kratz, because we think girls should be able to ask guys out with the same ease boys can do it, and it shouldn't mean any problem. The article exposes opinions of other people, and it finishes with the author's opinion. She says that before asking a guy out, you should consider your personality and if you will be able to handle a rejection. There are girls who feel safer being asked than asking, so if you are one of these girls, just don't ask a boy out. We agree with this point, although we think it is quite obvious that if you don't feel like asking out, you don't have to do it, but that's not really the topic that was being discussed, and that's why we weren't really pleased with the article.

In conclusion, we agree with and we stand up for girls asking boys out. Of course, it will always depend on the personality of the girl, if she is more extroverted or shy, but we think that if a girl wants to ask out a boy and feels sure about it, she should be able to do it and he shouldn't be seen as “masculine or desperate”. It should be seen the same way as if a boy did it, because even though traditionally it isn't common a girl asking a boy out, nowadays things should are different, and it should be the same for everyone. 

By Paula Caball and Mar Oliva

Bibliography

• https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-gender-ourselves/201109/why-cantmen-love-women 

• https://www.quora.com/Do-men-and-women-experience-love-differently-Fallingin-love-or-being-in-love 

• https://sites.google.com/site/maycaingles2011/writing/linkers-and-connectors 

• http://elitedaily.com/dating/motivate-ask-dude-on-date/1010222/ 

• http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/girls-asking-guys-out/ 

• https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/valley-girl-brain/201112/the-nice-girlsguide-asking-guy-out

LONDON

The Safestay London Elephant and Castle is not far from the center of London, and to get there you have to walk about 5 or 7 minutes until you get to the Elephant and Castle tube station. This is the easiest and fastest way to travel inside London. From there, to get to Picadilly Circus, we have to take the brown tube line, the one called Barkerloo, and wait until the fifth stop. There we have to get off and we'll already be there. 

The hostel offers many facilities (see photo), some of which are about the property, like free Wi-Fi, or laundry; others about the room, like bunk privacy curtains or personal power sockets; and it also offers different services, such as breakfast service, or towel hire/purchase.

Near the hostel, about 30 minutes or less on foot, there are several parks you can visit and have a walk around them. For example, the Pullens Gardens or the Nursery Row Park (photo). You can also visit the Amen Church, a small neigbourhood church. For going shopping, the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre is very near. 

MUST-SEE LANDMARKS IN LONDON

Of course, if you visit London you have to see its most famous landmark: Big Ben, the famous tower clock. Actually, at the beginning, "Big Ben" was only the name for the bell it contains, but eventually the whole tower is known as Big Ben. To get there from our hostel, we need to walk to the Elephant and Castle tube station, and there take the brown line, Barkeloo. Then, we have to get off the tube at the Waterloo stop, where we'll be able to take the grey line,  Jubilee, and get off at the next stop, Westminister. 

Another must-see landmark in London is the London Eye, also called Millenium Wheel. It is an enourmous Ferris wheel in the centre of London, right beside the Tamesis, the river that crosses the city. If you get the chance to get on it, you'll be able to admire the beautiful views of the city. If we want to get there from the hostel, we have to take again the brown line to get off at the Waterloo stop, ehich is the nearest to the London Eye. 

And finally, another important and famous landmark in London is the Hyde Park. It is the biggest park in the city and it is also one of the eight royal parks distributed around London. Inside the park there are plenty of activities you can do, as well as things to visit, for example the Wellington Arch, a triumphal arch which commemorates the Waterloo battle. To get there from our hostel, we have to take the brown line at the Elephant and Castle stop, and then we have two options. We can get off at the Picadilly Circus stop, there take the blue line, called Picadilly, and get off two stops later, at the Hyde Park Corner stop. Or we can also continue in the brown line for another stop, until the Oxford Circus, there take the red line, called Central, and get off at the Marble Arch, the third stop, which is maybe the nearest one to Hyde Park. 

TDR ABSTRACT

EDGAR ALLAN POE ON SCREEN

We all watch films, but what's the process behind them? The main objective of this project is to produce a short film, based on one of the most famous Edgar Allan Poe's takes, "The Oval Portrait", in order ti see, bit by bit, all the necessary steps that finally allow us to enjoy the film. 

The project is divided in a theoretical part which involves different aspects related to Poe's literature, the cinema and the connection between both topics; and a practical part that consists in the production of the short film, bearing in mind the previously treated aspects. 

SELF EVALUATION OF THE ORAL PRESENTATION ABOUT MY RESEARCH PROJECT

This week I presented my Research Project (TdR), entitled Edgar Allan Poe on screen, in front of my class. In the presentation I explained a little bit what was the project about, my objectives, the different parts it had and the conclusions I got to after finishing the project. 

To start with, I used several visual resources to make the presentation more visual and agile. I used a Prezi to present the content of the presentation, and I also added two videos: one was to illustrate the process and objective of the animated storyboard and the other one was the short film I created, which was an important part of the project. About the body language, I think I did it well: I didn't read my notes, I tried to look at everyone in the audience and I also tried not to stand still and to move a little bit while I was explaining. 

I think the structure was also good: I started explaining what the project was about and its objectives, then I explained the theoretical part which was followed by the practical part, and finally I talked about the conclusions. And about the content, I tried not to explain too many things about the content of the project. With this I mean that I focused more on explaining the different parts of the project and a brief information about each of them than, for example, in giving information about Edgar Allan Poe. I did this because I thought it was more interesting for the audience. However, I also tried not to focus a lot on the theoretical 

part and to explain more the practical part, because I think it is the most interesting.

Finally, about the language, I tried to use voacbulary related to the topic, but I could have improved using more complex grammar, richer vocabulary and more sentence connectors. I think the pronunciation was quite good and I tried to use a good intonation.

In conclusion, I am happy with the result of the presentation, although some things can be imporved.

DIALOGUE

SCENARIO: Two women come across in the middle of the street.

CHARACTERS: Nancy, Claire


NANCY: Claire!!! What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years, girl!

CLAIRE: Hmmm...

NANCY: What've you been up to? Are you still dating Johnny? He was such a cutie!

CLAIRE: Eeh... wait... and you're...?

N: Ha, ha, ha! You're still so funny! Tell me, are you married? I was, but I divorced a year later, because the man was so...

C: Wow, wow, stop. I was serious before, I haven't a clue about who you are. You must be mistaken...

N: Oh, no, darling! But I haven't changed at all. Well, maybe just a few tweaks, you know.

C: Hmm.. you mean, makeup?

N: Ha, ha, ha!! You're always with your jokes!! Sweetheart, don't make me say it out loud...

C: Say what?

N: Girl, are you living under the rocks or something? We're in 21st century! I can't believe you haven't tried with botox.

C: Botox? No way, are you crazy?!

N: Baby, getting botox nowadays is like buying a pair of jeans. And there are even discounts on it!

C: I guess you have taken advantadge of them a lot...

N: Haven't you recognized me yet?

C: Being honest... I have no idea.

N: I used to be the high school queen!

C: Rebecca Stewart?!

N: Are you kidding me? No! I'm Nancy Wallace!

C: What?! But you were brunette, and... your boobs were like two fried eggs!

N: And now they're like two watermelons. You should totally try it. Not meaning to offend.

C: Non taken. No.. em... I'm not really into these kind of things.

N: Come on! I have a lipo in half an hour and the surgeon owes me a favour... How much do you want to pay? 3000? No, no.. too much... 2000 is ok, isn't it?

C: Wait, what??? No, no, no...

N: Yeah, you're right... It's still too much. I can lower it to 1000. Trust me, the doctor is the real deal. I'm gonna call for a taxi. TAXI!

C: What the hell... You're fricking insane!!! I'm leaving.

N: Bye!!!! What a weird girl... It's curious how people change... TAXI!

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. 

HUMOUR

It is a well-known fact that humour has plenty of benefits, physical and psychological ones, but does it really play an important role in life?

In the first place, I believe that anything that has any kind of benefit is important in our life. As I see it, it is important to let go all those things that have a bad impact in our life, and to hold onto what can improve it, such as humour and laughter.

Secondly, I feel life would be sad without humour. Some people think that humour is a secondary thingm, less important than other “serious elements”, and that it is not important for us to go on with our life. In my opinion, however, life needs to be a combination of serious and “relaxing” moments, in which you can let yourself ho and enjoy. And laughing is one of these relaxing moments. It is sometimes necessary to disconnect and to laugh until your belly hurts, just to be able to get strength and carry on.

It seems to me that, as a result, things will become easier to overcome and life will feel more complete.

All in all, I strongly believe that humour plays, not only an important role, but an essential role in our lives, because it only provides good things and because of its importance in making our lives complete. 

MY GOALS

Dear Lourdes,

My name is Mar, I'm seventeen years old, and I'm studying 2^nd batxillerat in Castelló d'Empúries. In this mail I'm supposed to talk about my goals but this is actually a bit difficult for me. Focusing in short-term goals it's easier, for example one of my goals is to finish the Treball de Recerca, be proud of the final result and of course, get a good mark. Another one is to finish this school year with the same or even better results than I had last year. In each one of these there are possible challenges that I can find on the way, such as lack of time because of too much work, difficulties in the process of edition of my practical part of the project, that doesn't allow me to get the result I wanted, or other kind of challenges. To overcome them I should organize myself better with the time, to put effort on those things and also try to find other alternatives when I can't get what I wanted. In these cases, what's most important is that I work hard, even though teachers or my TDR tutor can help me to stay on track.

When it comes to long-term goals, it's more difficult. I can't really think about something concrete that I want to achieve. I don't really know what university degree I want to get and what I want to work as when I finish. I guess I could say my goals are to study a degree I like and to have a job I like, but I can't specify more. In this case, what I need to do is to have good marks in batxillerat and in Selectivitat in order to be able to choose a degree I like. But apart from that, I don't have in mind any other concrete goals. I would say may main goal in life is to be happy. I know it may sound so hipster, but in my opinion it's the most important thing in life. You will have to face different challenges, but I guess that to be able to overcome them you have to try to take advantadge of the good and bad situations, and to try to concentrate on the good things you have. You can try to achieve as many goals as you want, and you will succed in some of them and fail in others, but if at the end, you are happy with your life, I think it's more than enough.

"And you won't necessarily succeed at everything. That's okay."

I would like to comment this sentence because I agree with it. I think that a lot of times when we fail at something, we tend to think that we're not good at it, that we will never get it and that it's not worth trying again. And we aren't the only ones who think this. We all tend to think this about other people, and this can be even worse. If you fail once or twice, and have a bunch of people by your side telling you to stop trying because it's not your thing, you will probably stop trying and you will never get it. That's why it's important to keep in mind that it doesn't matter if we fail a hundred times, you never know if at the hundred and one try you will achieve it, so if it's something that you want, you should fight for it.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Mar

TED TALK: WHY 30 IS NOT THE NEW 20?

In this talk, the psychologist Meg Jay talks about the 20s decade and goes against the popular belief that the "30s are the new 20s".

Nowadays things like marriage, having kids or finish your degree and start working happen later than it did years ago. Some time ago, people in their 20s did all those things and everything happened earlier in life, but nowadays people tend to settle down and in their 30s. Because of this, some people sees the 20s decade as some throwaway decade, in which the things you do don't have to be necessarily important or relevant for your future life. That's why they believe it's okay to, for example, according to Meg Jay's thoughts before, date any guy or sleep with whoever you want, even if they're not good for you, just because you know that, as it is happening in your 20s, it won't be relevant in your life.

In this talk, Meg tries to make the people see that your 20s are still an important decade, in fact, as she says, those years are the key years in the development of the adult version of a person and the things that normally happen in the 20s decade are the ones that have the most impact on us. Through examples of two of her twentysomething girl patients, Alex and Emma, she explains the significance of the 20s and the importance of making right decisions during these years. Jay says that all those life events happening later, shouldn't stop you from start planning and making important decisions in the 20s decade, and she stands out the importance of not living these years like a irrelevant period of time, because then, when you reach the 30s, you will feel pressured and in a hurry to start settling down, and you will not make the decisions sensibly.

After thinking about what Meg Jay says in this talk, I can say I agree with what she says, but with some touches to clarify. I think she's right when she says that we mustn't flee from all the important decisions during our 20s, because as she says, then we'll feel pressured and we won't think mindfully the decisions we make in our 30s. But I don't think the 20s should be a "30s preparing decade". We shouldn't spend all those years thinking about the future and planning everything for our 30s. It's okay to take advantadge of this events delay in life, and see the 20s as a period of time to form yourself, to have fun, to try new things and to make mistakes and learn from them. But always thinking a little bit about the future, to make sure we enjoy the next different period of our lifes, the 30s.

VOCABULARY:

Twentysomethings: people who is between 20 and 30 years old.

Kick the can down the road: to defer conclusive action with a short-term solution.

Growth spurt: it is a sudden growth.

Arsonist: someone who sets property on fire.

TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/meg_jay_why_30_is_not_the_new_20#t-26167

SELF-EVALUATION ORAL PRESENTATION

After seeing the recording of the oral presentation I can talk a little bit more about how it went, although I already had an idea before watching it.  

We tried to think an idea to make the presentation original and not an average presentation. The idea that came in our minds was to make it a little bit like theatre, introducing characters and a little story through which we gave out the information we had to include in the presentation. 
After watching the video I realize that maybe we could have worked more on that idea, but in general it turned out well and I'm happy with the result, because it is a way of making the presentation different.

About the images and the format of the presentation we used, I think that it was quite similar to all the other presentation, taking away the fact that we used some pictures to represent the settings of our "little play", although after watching the video I see that maybe that wasn't very clear.

Focusing on the presentation itself, in general I'm happy with the result. There are always things to improve, for example the pronuntation of some words, the volume of the voice, which I think should have been louder in my case, and the nerves. I was a little bit nervous during the presentation basically because I didn't remember to say some of the things and because, since we were conversating between us, if one of us forgot something, it could be bad for the other because she could get confused and don't know what to say. But although we forgot things and we didn't do the presentation 100% the way it was meant to be, something that happens almost in all the presentation, I think it wasn't very noticiable and from the outside it looked like a perfectly normal and good presentation. 

FORMAL LETTER

32 Esplais Street

17486 Castelló d'Empúries

20^th March 2016

Mr and Ms Perry

2548 North East Hood Street

97299 Portland, Oregon

Dear Mr and Ms Perry,

The reason why I am writing this letter is because I want to apply for the babysitter job you are interested in. I have seen your advertisement on the Internet and I think I am the person you are looking for. I am a sixteen-year-old Spanish student with a good level of English, but it can always be improved, and that is one of the reasons I would like to work as an au pair. I really like children and I am sure taking care of them would be at the same time fun and a way to learn and improve my English.

I think I match the babysitter profile you are looking for, because I am a tidy and responsible person, I am excited to work with children and I could teach them some Spanish as a new language, just like you request in your advertisement.

Find my CV attached to this letter.

Looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Mar Oliva

PHRASAL VERBS

Last summer I went to Ireland with some friends to learn and practise English. There we stayed with a family and we went to classes and also did different activities.
One Saturday, we were supposed to set off at nine in the morning, so we had to be in the school about fifteen minutes before. I had to get to the school by bus along with the friend who was in the same house as me and we had looked up the timetables some days before. The problem was that we hadn't thought it was Saturday and the timetables were different than during the week. And we found that out when it was too late. 

We sorted out the timetable the day before, so we got up thinking we were on time. Our host mother offered us a car ride to the bus stop, but we turned it down because we thought we had time to go walking. W got there and we waited for the bus, but it wasn't coming so we asked the bus timetables to a woman who was there. She told us the time the next bus was coming and we realized we were definitely going to be late. When it arrived we got on the bus, we sat down and we just wished the bus to speed up. Some stops later, my friend Paula and another one of our friends turned up. They were also late! They sat down next to us and we all switched our mobile phones on. We had plenty pf messages from our instructor saying that we were late and asking us where we were. The four of us tried to make up an excuse and we told him that the bus we were supposed to take hadn't shown up. What we didn't know was that the instructor, who normally went to the school by bike, that day had decided to take the same bus we were supposed to take, so he caught us in a lie.

DESCRIPTION OF A PERSON

Her name is Paula, she's sixteen years old and she is studying 1st batxillerat. She is one of my closest friends.

Talking about her appearance, she isn't too short or too tall and she has a slim body, with a feminine figure. About her head and face, she's got quite long, straight and brown hair. Her eyes are big and light brown, mixed with green. She's got long eyelashes. Her nose and mouth are average size and her skin is quite tanned.

Focusing on her personality, she is very outgoing and she's not a calm person at all. She loves meeting new people and being active doing different activities and practising sports. She is very friendly and she cares about orther people. Paula is hard working and very good at her studies.

She is one of my best friends because I know I can always rely on her, and even though we have been together since we were three years old and we spend pretty much the whole day together, we don't get tired of each other. 

A LETTER TO SANTA

Dear Santa...

Talking about material things, I don't really know what to ask for and the same thing happen with more "abstract" things.

Of course, I would like the world to be much better: wars ending, all the people having a place to live and enough food. But I think this very difficult and almost impossible.

I don't want to be negative, but it is impossible to live in a perfect world, without problems and in which everyone is happy, although we could try to get the closest we can to this. 

Therefore this is what I'm going to ask for: to get the most perfect version of our world.

As I said before, we're definitely not going to build up a utopian world, but what I am asking for is a world with the less possible problems, in which people are as happy as possible and in which people enjoy little things in life. At the end of the day I consider these are the reasons why we are glad.