laura●●

FINAL EVALUATION!

2009-05-31T04:55:00.000-07:00

Now, we’re in the doors to finish our 1st of Batxillerat. When I started 1st Batxillerat, when I saw all the work that we must do, I was really frightened, but the days passed and the work everyday was less.

At the beginning of the course, I thought that the English project will be really difficult, but now, we did all the activities that it involves, and I think that I improved a lot my English looking for all the sides, writing, speaking and listening.

Looking my portfolio and blog posts from the beginning of the course, I think that I’ve improved a lot during this course. Moreover, when I started to do this project, when I must do a post or a composition, I passed a lot of time doing it, and now, I can do the compositions better and quickly.

I think that all the activities shows my improvement. Beginning for my oral presentations, the first that I did I was really nervous and I spoke with breaks and interruptions, and on my third oral presentation I wasn’t really nervous and I could speak with a little fluency. About my capacity of understand the dialogues, my friends oral presentations, the video news, listenings... is better, ‘cause I practiced more and now it’s more easy for me understand an English conversation. And finally, my writings I think that also have improved, ‘cause I have more vocabulary, more knowledge about linkers and I think that my compositions are more pleasant for read.

In my opinion, the best activities to improve our English are writings, ‘cause at the same times you must think in grammar, vocabulary and how write it, so there are a lot of topics inside one activity. In conclusion, I find useful all the activities that we did during these course.
Apart from doing the proposed activities from the teachers I used to do another one. This activity is translation of songs. I really like do it, ‘cause I learnt the meaning of my favourite songs and I practiced my vocabulary.

The activities that I enjoyed during these first year of project, is doing summaries of news, ‘cause you practice your way to do summaries and you learn things.

Well, apart from all the work that I must did during the course I’m self-satisfied of my English improvement during this 1st Batxillerat!

WE HAVE ALMOST LEARNT TO RESPECT OUR WORLD. DO YOU AGREE?

2009-05-31T04:21:00.000-07:00

Nowadays we’re reading a lot of articles from the newspaper and magazines, seeing a lot of reportages from the TV about climate change, global warming…

There are a lot of people who think that they know all about this topic, but I disagree with this.
I think that we don’t know all the things that we must know, or simple we don’t put in practice the things that we know.

In my opinion, I think that there are two groups of persons. Firstly, there is the group who want the best for our planet, and they make associations for save the world, like Greenpeace. Secondly, there is another group that they contaminate the planet without any stop.
These types of persons are deteriorating the world and they are making air pollution, deforestation, global warming and increasing the climate change. Beginning with the animal extinction we can do the human extinction. People don’t want it, but we’re doing it without seeing it.

I think that if we don’t control the activities that we do and we don’t think the repercussions that it will have in the future, we can destroy our planet easily.

In conclusion, I think that we don’t know all the things that we must know to save our planet.

MR. & MRS. SMITH.

2009-05-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

This film it's about one couple that have been married. These couple are John and Jane. They both work of the same job, but in different bussines. In reality, however, John and Jane are both skilled assassins working for different firms. Each are hiding their true profession from their partner.
All start when both are assigned to kill a man who's name is Benjamin Danz, also called "The Tank".
During this plan, the couple are assigned to kill themselves, after different attacks they decided stop with this.
After to decide it, they passed for a hard period, 'cause they must left their job and renunce to a lot of money, but they decided stop working with it and be together for all their life.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

Hide: amagar.

SHE MOVES ON HER OWN WAY.

2009-05-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

She Moves On Her Own Way, from The Kooks.

So at my show on Monday/ Doncs en el meu programa del dilluns
I was told that someday / em van dir que algun dia
You’d be on your way to better things / estaries en el teu bon camí
It’s not about your make-up / no és sobre el teu maquillatge
Or how you try to shape up / o com intentes donar forma
To these tiresome paper dreams / a aquests pesats somnis de paper
Paper dreams honey / somnis de paper, amor meu

So now you pour your heart out / I ara tu obres el teu cor
You’re telling me you’re far out / M'estàs diguent que estàs lluny
You’re all about to lie down for your cause / estàs a punt d'estirar-te per la teva causa
But you don’t pull my strings / però tu no m'enganyes
Cause I’m a better man / perquè jo sóc un home millor
Moving on to better things / que es mou en coses millors.

But uh oh, I love her because / Però uh oh, l'estimo perquè
She moves in her own way / ella es mou pel seu camí
But uh oh, she came to my show / Però uh, oh ella va venir al meu programa
Just to hear about my day / només per sentir algo sobre el meu dia.

And at the show on Tuesday / I en el programa del dimarts
She was in her mindset / ella estava al seu món
Tempered firs and spangled boots / avets temperats i botes amb lluentons
Looks are deceiving / les mirades són enganyoses
Making me believe it / fent-m'ho creure
And these tiresome paper dreams / i aquests pesats somnis de paper
Paper dreams honey, yeah / somnis de paper, amor meu

So won’t you go far / així que no aniràs lluny
Tell me you’re a keeper / digam que ets una guardiana
You’re all about to lie down for your cause / estàs a punt d'estirar-te per la teva causa
But you don’t pull my strings because / però tu no m'enganyes
Cause I’m a better man / perquè jo sóc un home millor
Moving on to better things / que es mou en coses millors.

But uh oh, I love her because / Però uh oh, l'estimo perquè
She moves in her own way / ella es mou pel seu camí
But uh oh, she came to my show / Però uh, oh ella va venir al meu programa
Just to hear about my day / només per sentir algo sobre el meu dia.

Yes our wish’s that we never made it / Sí, el nostre desig és que mai ho haguessim fet
Through all the summers / durant tots els estius
We kept them up instead of / ens vam reservar en comptes de
Kicking us back down to the suburbs / marxar de volta cap als afores
Yes our wish’s that we never made it / Sí, el nostre desig és que mai ho haguessim fet
Through all the summers / durant tots els estius
We kept them up instead of / ens vam reservar en comptes de
Kicking us back down to the suburbs / marxar de volta cap als afores

But uh oh, I love her because / Però uh oh, l'estimo perquè
She moves in her own way / ella es mou pel seu camí
But uh oh, she came to my show / Però uh, oh ella va venir al meu programa
Just to hear about my day / només per sentir algo sobre el meu dia.

But uh oh, I love her because / Però uh oh, l'estimo perquè
She moves in her own way / ella es mou pel seu camí
But uh oh, she came to my show / Però uh, oh ella va venir al meu programa
Just to hear about my day / només per sentir algo sobre el meu dia.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

Shape up: donar forma
Tiresome: pesats
mindset: pensaments, en el seu món
firs: avets
spangle: lluentó
deceiving: enganyoses
keeper: guardià

Really beautiful song:)

ORAL PRESENTATION.

2009-05-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

TOPIC: WATER.

Presentation:
1. Did you use any resources? Yes, Powerpoint.
2. Were the resources relevant and attractive? Yes.

Body language and eye contact:
3. Did you look at your audience most of the time? Yes.
4. Did you read from your notes? Only when I forget the word or the sentence that I must say.
5. Did you do any gestures/movement to hold the attention of you audience? Yes.

Structure:
6. Did you organize your ideas in order of importance? Yes.
7. Did you use discourse makers to make your ideas more clear? Yes.

Content:
8. Did you introduce interesting, NEW information to your audience? Yes.
9. Did you look up information/facts/ideas in the Internet/books? Yes.
10. Was your information more superficial or more detailed and original? A little of everything, but generally was detailed.

Language:
11. Did you use check your grammar? Yes.
12. Did you use rich vocabulary looking up the dictionary? Yes.
13. Did you use sentence linkers? Yes.
14. Did you use fillers? Yes.

Pronunciation & Intonation:

15. Did you know how to pronunce all you words? I must recognize that not all.
Did you check the pronunciation with a dictionary, a classmate or the teacher? Yes, with the dictionary and classmates.
16. Did you change your tone of voice or use a monotone tone all the time? The same tone all the time.
Did you speed in a fluid continuum or with breaks and interruptions? I had more fluence that the other presentations, but I spoke with some breaks and interruptions.

Self-Evaluation:
Well, about this oral presentation, I think that it was the best of the three that I did in this course. I suppose that now, we have more practice and we know how we can talk in front our friends, what we can do to don't get nervous, how we must prepare it...
I think that these three oral presentations are very useful during the course, 'cause we practice a lot our english and we can overcome our scenic panic!
In conclusion, I think that it was good:)

Write down a LITERAL TRNASCRIPTION of your presentation.

Pau.

Laura: Laura: Well, I'll talk about the problems that involve have to much water in one country and as you know, people who don't have enough water in her country want to have more, but the others that have a lot ot water don't want to have more.
For example, one problem that exists in a lot of places around the world is the inundation, when it starts to rain very hard or when the sea comes to the Earth. They can lose their houses or maybe their families or simply their own life. It happens usually in countries like China and Japan.
Our world it's really contaminated, so, with all the gases that we have in the sky, it's probably that theses acids will be converted to acid rain. This is a photo when acid rain came to the Earth and hurt the forest.
Other meteorological phenomenon really dangerous for the flora it's the hailstorm, 'cause it can destroy a lot of nature in a really small period of time. For example, in our town, Sant Pere, on last summer, on September, there was a really hard hailstorm and all the farmers lost their apple crop, and their lost a lot of money. It was a really big desaster.
Also, in a place that there is stagnant water there are a lot of possibilities that mosquitoes come so it's really dangerous, 'cause now, in our zone are coming the Tiger mosquitoes, and this type of bite of mosquito it's really painful and really dangerous for the human.
On the other hand, when we are inside a car it's really dangerous drive a car when it's raining, 'cause for the driver it's really difficult to control the car with the rain in the road. Also, other problem that we have it's when a river it's passing on a road, and the current can carry our car away from the river and we can die in a few minutes. About this case, the problem isn't the water, 'cause the persons know that they mustn't pass to this place when it's raining, so the problem are the persons that they aren't conscient about of they are doing at this moment.

Pau.

Laura: As you know, now we are in a period of time that we are missing a lot of water for our lives so I want to put some advices to save more water in our country.
- We must close all the taps of our houses correctly.
- We mustn't take a bath, we must take a shower.
- We mustn't clean our car in our home, we must go to Manu Groc.
- We mustn't have swimming pools in our homes, we must go to the beach or a public swimming pool.
- Switch on the washing machine when it's full of clothes.

In conclusion, we must save a lot fo water 'cause we don't know when we'll really need it. As you know before our oral presentation, a lot of water it's the same that don't have enough.
Well, we think that in our geography situation, we are in a place that we don't have a lot of water but we don't miss it in our times, so we think that in our geography situation we're good.
Well, if you have any questions we'll try to answer it and be water my friend!

Check your Language and Structure. Can you correct your mistakes?

Well, I think that in this third oral presentation I did less mistakes, but I don't know what happened that I used to say "bueno"...
Generally, I think that during the course I've improved my speaking and my pronunciation. course

Now, if you want, you can look our PowerPoint.

INFECTION.

2009-05-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of people who’re more vulnerable than others to get infections, so during this new summary I’ll tell you why and how we can prevent them.

The causes of the infections are the microscopic organism, which can be bacteria, viruses and fungi. We are surrounded of bacteria, viruses and fungi, so we can't escape from their. Micro-organisms are unavoidable, they’re in the air we breathe, every surface we touch and the food we eat.

The three biggest causes that we get infected from these micro-organisms are these:

Infections from food: for example when we don’t clean as we must clean an apple. Also we must pay attention with the water that we clean something or we drink, ‘cause depending of the zone it can be infected or full of bad micro-organisms.

Close contact: like the first contact that we have with the world, with our mother’s skins, or simply, don’t practicing safe sex.

Hospital-acquired infections: Hospitals are full of bacteria, viruses, fungi and a lot of other micro-organisms that we don’t know that exists, so it’s a place where it’s really easy catch an infection, so we must pay attention and if we are bad, we mustn’t go there, ‘cause we will bring more micro-organisms to the hospital and it will be dangerous for the patients.

If in one place are a lot of people and only one person takes the virus it’s for his immune system, he has low defenses.

The people who’re exposed to more infections are young and old persons, persons with a malnourishment...

To prevent infections we must wash our hands regularly, follow a healthy diet, practice safe sex...

This new is extracted from this link.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

Surrounded: envoltat
Acquired: adquirides
Malnourishment: malnutrició

SWINE FLU.

2009-04-29T06:06:00.000-07:00

During this time, in Mexico City, doctors have detected a case of swine flu. The person who took this virus is a young boy of five years old who’s name is Edgar.

He is known as “patient zero”, ‘cause he survived the earliest documented case of swine flu.
The lab tests confirmed that Edgar was the only patient in Veracruz to test positive for the sine flu virus.
To protect all the other habitants of the city, Mexico decided close all the bars, clubs, movie theatres, pool halls, theatres, gyms, sport centers…
The symptoms include fever, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

Pool halls: sales de billar
Sore throat: mal de coll

This new is extracted from this link.

INFORMAL LETTER.

2009-04-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

Onze de Setembre Avenue
Sant Pere Pescador
17470

16th April 2009

Hi Lucy! How are you?
Since your last wrote I've been thinking about the things what we can do when you arrive here.
Well, you will set off at five o'clock of the morning of Ireland and you will arrive here at seven o'clock more or less.
I'll be waiting for you in the airport, and later we will go to my house to leave your suitcases, but I think that we have a problem, a big problem! My car is break down, it stops working yesterday while I was going to work, so we must rend other one for do our visits.
During these days that you'll be here, with me, we can go to different places, for example:
We can go to the beach in Sant Pere, and relax ourselves with the nature of the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà. You will find out that there are a lot of little towns very beautiful in l'Empordà!
If you like ride a bike, we can take the Fluvià's route, it's really nice!
Also, we can visit Girona's Cathedral and walk around the city, and if you want one day we can go to Barcelona and visit the most important places and later... we can go shopping!
Well, these are the activities that I thought. If you come across with other ideas qe can change the activities that I've been thinking of, there isn't any problem!
See you soon Lucy!

XXX.

LAURA.

FORMAL DIALOGUE.

2009-04-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

C- Come in.
L- Good Morning.
C- Good Morning. Take a seat please. If you are hot take your coat off.
L- Thank you. My name is Laura and I am studying in IES Castelló d’Empúries.
C- Nice to meet you. I am Cèlia, the director of the company. How can I help you?
L- I am doing a research project and I would be grateful if you could give me some information about your company if it is possible.
C- Of course, what are you looking for?
L- I am looking up information about the costs of this business and your different ways to control the activities of the company.
C- Ok. What type of costs are you looking into?
L- If it’s possible I would like to have the production costs but, if it is more work than you can take on I understand.
C- No problem. I will send you these costs as soon as I can by e-mail. I think it can get them to you in two days. If I come across any other information that might be useful, I will send it too.
L- Thank you so much! I will look out for your e-mail and I will answer you.
C- Ok, is that all?
L- Yes, thank you.
C- Thank you for your interested in this company for your research project!
L- It’s been a pleasure. Good bye!
C- Goodbye. Have a nice day, Laura!

Cèlia Garcia and Laura Carrera.

MY FAVOURITE GAME.

2009-03-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know what you're looking for / No sé què és el que estàs buscant
You haven't found it baby, thats for sure / No ho has trobat noi, això segur
You rip me off, you spread me all around / Tu em rasques, em separes de tot els voltants
In the dust of a deartide? / En la pols feta per del temps
And this is no case of lust you see / I aquest no és un cas de luxúria, tu ho veus
It's not a matter of you versus me / No és una qüestió de tu contra mi
It's fine the way you want to be on your own / És bona la forma que tu tens de tenir-me amb tu
But in the end it's always me alone / Però al final sempre estic jo sola

I'm losing my favourite game / Estic perdent el meu joc preferit
You're losing your mind again / Tu estàs perdent la teva ment altre vegada
I'm losing my baby, losing my favourite game / Estic perdent el meu nen, perdent el meu joc preferit

I only know what I've been working for / Jo només se perquè hi he estat treballant
I know you so I could love you more / Jo sé que et podria haver estimat més
I really thought that I could take you there / Jo realment em pensva que et podria portar allà
But... nice termin??? - is not getting us anywhere / Però... bon final? no ens està portant a cap lloc
I had a vision I could turn you right / Jo vaig tenir una visió que et podia fer cambiar
A stupid mission and a letal fight / Una estúpida missió i una batalla letal
I should have seen it when my hope was new / Jo ho hauria d'haver vist quan la meva esperança era nova
My heart is black and my body is blue / El meu cor és negre i el meu cos és blau

And I'm losing my favourite game / I jo estic perdent el meu joc preferit
You're losing your mind again / Tu estàs perdent la teva ment un altre cop
I'm losing my favourite game / Jo estic perdent el meu joc preferit
You're losing your mind again / Tu estàs perdent la teva ment un altre cop

I'm losing my baby, losing my favoutite game / Estic perdent el meu nen, perdent el meu joc preferit
I'm losing my favourite game / Esitc perdent el meu joc preferit
You're losing your mind again / Tu estàs perdent la teva ment un altre cop
I try but you're still the same / Jo ho intento pero tu segueixes igual
I'm losing my baby / Jo estic perdent el meu nen
You're losing a saviour and saint / Tu estàs perdent una salvadora i una santa

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

you rip me off: em rasques
you spread me: em separes

TRADITIONAL FARMS, FABULOUS FOOD.

2009-03-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Catalonia it’s a region which it’s proud of his products. There are a lot of very high quality products around Catalonia that are delicious. There are a lot of fruit and vegetable.

Firstly, we can find the “Calçots de Valls”, that are a type of little onions that are originally from the Alt Cap and Baix Cap, two different regions of Catalonia. The time when people eat this type of food it’s on January.

Also, in Delta de l’Ebre, in the South of Catalonia, we can find the rice, because it’s a really good zone to cultivate it. Rice has always been a feature of popular festivals in the surrounding area and in the gastronomy of the region. Also, we can find rice in Baix Empordà, in Pals.

Other important vegetables cultivated in Catalonia are potatoes and beans. The best high quality potatoes are from Prades, situated on the Baix Camp. The people of Prades said that their potatoes aren't easily forgotten. The Potato Day is in September. Other place where you can find really good potatoes is in Osona.

Others important products of Catalonia are the beans. The most common beans in Catalonia are Ganxet and Santa Pau. They are from El Vallès and El Maresme. In these zones of Catalonia there are farms growing this type of beans. Santa Pau’s beans grow in volcanic earth and can be tried in numerous restaurants in this zone.

About the fruit, we can find excellent fruit in our region, Girona. To be precise, these fruits are apples. Also, in Ribera d’Ebre we can find really good peaches, and in Lleida, we can find excellent pears.

Apart from all these products, we mustn’t forget, for example, the artichokes of the Baix Llobregat that are renowned for their excellent flavour and quality.

This new is extracted from this link.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

Artichokes: carxofes
Renowned: reconegut

AUSTRIAN FRITZL SENTENCED TO LIFE.

2009-03-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Fritzl, 73, was found guilty of all charges against him, including rape, incest, murder and enslavement.
He's condemned in a life imprisonment.
He had his daughter in a cellar, he had sexual relations with her and even, he had daughters and sons with her.
The court ordered that Fritzl should serve his life sentence in a secure psychiatric facility. If in a few years after he will be better, he would be able to go in a normal prison, not in a psychiatric prison.

Below, you can see the genealogic tree of Fritzl and his daughter:

This new it’s extracted from this link.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

Guilty: culpable
Cellar: soterrani
Court: tribunal

SUSI IS DEPRESSED.

2009-03-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

In Barcelona's zoo, one year ago died an elephant, that was Susi's friend. Now Susi is alone in the Barcelona's zoo. Her only companion, Alice, died in February 2008. Now, she has got an area of just over 1000 m² and she is depressed. She doesn't do nothing. She doesn't eat nothing from the visitors, she doesn't play with her toys...
The experts said that these symptoms reveal that Susi is in depression and anxiety.
Susi is in Barcelona's zoo since 2002. She was born in the wild Africa 36 years ago.
The Libera's association has begun collecting signatures for took Susi from Barcelona's Zoo and bring this elephant in a place where she feels good.

This new is extracted from this link.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:

revels: revelen
anxiety: ansietat

BAD DAY.

2009-03-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

Bad day-Daniel Powter

Where is the moment when we need it the most / On està el moment quan més el necessitem
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost / Tu puntejes les fulles amb el peu i la màgia està perduda
They tell me your blue sky's faded to grey / Ells m'expliquen que el teu cel blau s'ha descolorit al gris
They tell me your passion's gone away / Ells m'expliquen que la teva passió es va escapar
And I don't need no carrying on / I jo no necessito no continuar

Stand in the line just ahead of the law / De peu a la línia prop de la llei
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go / Tu estas fingint un somriure amb el cafè que tu vas
You tell me your life's been way off line / Tu em dius que la teva vida ha estat apagada
You're falling to pieces every time / Tu estas caiguent a peçes cada moment
And I don't need no carrying on / Jo no necessito no continuar

Cause you had a bad day / Perquè tu has tingut un mal dia
You're taking one down / Tu estas baix de moral
You sing a sad song just to turn it around / Tu cantes una cançó trista
You say you don't know / Tu dius que no ho saps
You tell me don't lie / Tu em dius que no menteixes
You work at a smile and you go for a ride / Tu treballes un somriure i vas a donar un passeig
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia
The camera don't lie / La càmara no menteix
You're coming back down and you really don't mind / Tu t'estàs enfonsant i relment no t'importa
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia

Well you need a blue sky holiday / D'acord, tu necessites unes vacances amb un cel blau
The point is they laugh at what you say / El punt és ells rien del que tu dius
And I don't need no carrying on / I jo no necessito no continuar

You had a bad day / Perquè tu has tingut un mal dia
You're taking one down / Tu estas baix de moral
You sing a sad song just to turn it around / Tu cantes una cançó trista
You say you don't know / Tu dius que no ho saps
You tell me don't lie / Tu em dius que no menteixes
You work at a smile and you go for a ride / Tu treballes un somriure i vas a donar un passeig
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia
The camera don't lie / La càmara no menteix
You're coming back down and you really don't mind / Tu t'estàs enfonsant i relment no t'importa
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia

Sometimes the system goes on the blink / A vegades el sistema comença a parpellejar
and the whole thing it turns out wrong / i totes les coses es converteixen en equivocacions
You might not make it back and you know / Tu no podríes tornar i tu saps
that you could be well oh that strong / que tu podríes estar be, oh que fort
Well I'm not wrong / Jo no estic equivocat.

So where is the passion when you need it the most / On està la passió quan més la necessites
Oh you and I /Oh tu i jo
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost / Tu puntejes les fulles amb el peu i la màgia està perduda
Cause you had a bad day / Perquè tu has tingut un mal dia
You're taking one down / Tu estas baix de moral
You sing a sad song just to turn it around / Tu cantes una cançó trista
You say you don't know / Tu dius que no ho saps
You tell me don't lie / Tu em dius que no menteixes
You work at a smile and you go for a ride / Tu treballes un somriure i vas a donar un passeig
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia
The camera don't lie / La càmara no menteix
You're coming back down and you really don't mind / Tu t'estàs enfonsant i relment no t'importa
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia
You had a bad day / Tu has tingut un mal dia

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
Kick up: donar una puntada amb el peu
Fade: descolorir
Ahead: proper
faking: fingint
blink: parpellejar

MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

2009-03-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

Frankie Dunn, the protagonist of the film, has trained and represented the best boxers in his boxer life. The most important lesson that he has taught to his boxers is the motto that guides his own life: “above all, first, protect yourself”. After a painful separation of his daughter, Frankie has been incapable for a long time to get closer to another person. His only friend is Scrap, an exboxer who cares Frankie’s gym.
One day appears Maggie Fitzgerald in his gym. Maggie knows what she wants, and she is prepared to do whatever to get her objective: be a boxer.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
Motto: lema
Incapable: incapaç
To get closer: apropar-se
Prepared: disposada

COMMON MISTAKES.

2009-03-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

Always, when we do our texts, we make mistakes. There are a lot of common mistakes with us, so I will put some of them.
Sometimes, we can confuse these words: dead (the adjective), died (the noun) and death (the verb). For example, died people it’s incorrect, we must put dead people. It was a common mistake in Frankenstein’s exam. I think that I was one of the persons who did this mistake.
Like the previous mistake, we confuse life (the noun) with live (the verb), and I think that I’m one of the persons who did this mistake too! We must have clear that the plural of life is lives.
Another common mistake with us is the demostratives. Sometimes we change this with these, for example this investigations it’s incorrect, and we must put these investigations.
When we expose our opinions, sometimes, we did this mistake: I’m agree with…, and we must put I agree with. I recognize that I was one of the persons that did this mistake, but I use it usually, so I think that I improved this mistake. Now, when I write something I remember it, and I don’t do this mistake.
At the beginning, when we didn’t know anything about the connecting files, we put “on the one hand”, and now, we know that we must put,” on the other hand”, because usually, we use this connector and we know a little bit more about connecting files.
Well, I think that these mistakes are the more important that we did in this second term, and we commented in class, so I decided to do a revision to improve more all these mistakes.

BEING A CELEBRITY IS A GREAT THING?

2009-03-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

In these moments, there are a lot of people who his dream is to be a famous. The first impression that all the people have about the famous people are that they have a lot of money, but being a celebrity doesn’t have only positive points.

First of all, the best points that celebrities have is that they have a lot of money. Mainly, this is the point that does that all the people want to be a celebrity. Moreover, they have big houses, a lot of expensive things; they travel around the world without thinking with the money that it will cost.

Apart from the advantages they didn’t have private life. Always they have persons who are following them. Furthermore, the press invents things that aren’t real, for example, when a famous going out with a friend, the press always does suppositions, like: A new partner is here!, when the celebrities, the only thing that they are doing it’s meet with their friends.

In my opinion, I think that being a celebrity it’s bad, because if you can’t have private life, and be happy with your family without interruptions, it isn’t a good life. I prefer don’t have a lot of money and have more private life than celebrities.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
Mainly: principalment
Press: premsa

ORAL PRESENTATION.

2009-02-18T05:48:00.000-08:00

TOPIC: SOUTH AFRICA.

Here, you have the videos. I don't know what happened when Laura was recording us, but the video is divided in two parts.
This is the first:

And the second:

Presentation:
1. Did you use any resources? Yes, powerpoint and videos from youtube.
2. Were the resources relevant and attractive? Yes.

Body language and eye contact:
3. Did you look at your audience most of the time? Not all the time, but I tried to do it.
4. Did you read from your notes? A little.
5. Did you do any gestures/movement to hold the attention of you audience? A little.

Structure:
6. Did you organize your ideas in order of importance? Yes.
7. Did you use discourse makers to make your ideas more clear? Yes.

Content:
8. Did you introduce interesting, NEW information to your audience? Yes.
9. Did you look up information/facts/ideas in the Internet/books? Yes.
10. Was your information more superficial or more detailed and original? A little of everything, but generally was detailed.

Language:
11. Did you use check your grammar? Yes.
12. Did you use rich vocabulary looking up the dictionary? Yes.
13. Did you use sentence linkers? A little.
14. Did you use fillers? A little.

Pronunciation & Intonation:
15. Did you know how to pronunce all you words?
Did you check the pronunciation with a dictionary, a classmate or the teacher? Yes, all of them.
16. Did you change your tone of voice or use a monotone tone all the time? The same tone all the time.
Did you speed in a fluid continuum or with breaks and interruptions? With breaks and interruptions. I was nervious a lot.

Self-Evaluation:
I think that this second oral presentation was worst than the firtst, I don't know why, because I prepared it like, or more, than the firts.

Write down a LITERAL TRNASCRIPTION of your presentation.

Introduction; Pau.

History; Roger.

ECONOMY; Well, I will speak about the economy of South Africa that it's the most bigger in Africa, and plays an important paper in the developement of the region. Well, the south african economy posses a great volum of the national capital public and private. The monetary system of South Africa it's the Rand, that it's divisible in 100 cents, whichs is used also in other countries of the Montetary Common area of South Africa.
Johannesburg market is one of the biggest markets of Africa and it's situated in South Africa.
Another important secotr of south africa its the mining industry especially extraction of coal, minerals and precious metals, like diamonds, gold and platinum
Well, South Africa is one of the countries with major reserves of diversity of richness, it has got a lot of mining. South Africa is the most industrial powerful and diversified of the whole African region.
An important point of South Africa is that it has a lot of natural parks, so a lot of people of around the world come to South Africa for see the nature.

Politics; Roger.

Festivals; Pau.

LANGUAGES; Well, now, I will speak about the languages that are speaked in South Africa. As you can see on the presentation of Power Point, there is a list of the languages wrote with a colour that are painted in the map. There are eleven official languages around the country and the most spoken are Zulu, in a 23'8%, Xhosa, whith a 17'6% and Afrikaans with a 13'3%.
It's the second country below India that have the most number of official languages.
Also, the government recognizes eigh no official languages, that are Fangalo, Khoe, Lobedu, Namai, Northern, Ndebele's, Phuti and San.
In South Africa there are white people that are Europeans and they speak Portuguese, German and Greek, and also there are Indian and Asian people that speak asian languages, like Telugu, Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil.

Geography; Roger.

Food and Drink; Pau.

MUSIC; The South African music scene has continued to flouris in the 2000s. One of the most popular choral group of South Africa is Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and it's this photo, they are the choral group. Their las single is Ilembe.
The music scene in South Africa is focused around four major areas, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Bloemfontein. One of the characteristics of this areas are the strong sense of community which sees artist.
Bloemfontein's music focus is centred predominantly arount the metal and Afrikaans genres.
Well, South Africa has several annual music festivals including, MotherFudd, Oppikoppi and Splashy fen. The music festivals cater to different genres and styles of music.

Sports; Pau.

Check your Language and Structure. Can you correct your mistakes?

Well, about this oral presentation I think that I must correct a lot of things, so I don't know what happened when I went to the before the people who want to listen me, I started to get nervous and I forgot all the things that I must say, so read a little. I hope that the last presentation of this year will be better than this, beucause I think that it was a disaster; for my part, not for Pau and Roger.;)

Now, if you want, you can look our PowerPoint.

I FOUND YOU.

2009-02-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

I FOUND YOU - THE FRAY

The embed of this video is desactivated, so if you want to listen the song, you can go here.;)

I found God / He trobat a Déu
On the corner of First and Amistad / A la cantonada de "First and Amistad"
Where the west / On l'oest
Was all but won /Era tot pero va guanyar
All alone / tot sol
Smoking his last cigarette / Fumant el seu últim cigarret
I said, “Where you been?” / Jo vaig dir "On has estat?"
He said, “Ask anything.” / Ell va dir, " Preguntant qualsevol cosa."

Where were you / On t'estaves
When everything was falling apart? / Quan tot estava caient a trossets?
All my days / Tots els meus dies
Were spent by the telephone / Es van gastar per el telèfon
That never rang / Que mai va sonar
And all I needed was a call / Tot el que necessitava era una trucada
It never came / Que mai va arribar
To the corner of First and Amistad / A la cantonada de "First and Amistad"

Lost and insecure / Perdut i insegur
You found me, you found me / Em vas trobar, em vas trobar
Lying on the floor / Tirat en el terra
Surrounded, surrounded / Envoltat, envoltat
Why’d you have to wait? / Perquè has d'esperar?
Where were you, where were you? / On estàs, on estàs?
Just a little late / Nomès una mica tard
You found me, You found me / Tu em vas trobar, tu em vas trobar.

In the end / Al final
Everyone ends up alone / Tothom acaba sol
Losing her / Perdent-la
The only one who’s ever known / La única que coneix
Who I am / Qui sóc
Who I’m not, and who I want to be / Qui no sóc i qui vull ser
No way to know / No hi ha forma de saber-ho
How long she will be next to me / Quant de temps ella estarà al meu costat.

Lost and insecure / Perdut i insegur
You found me, you found me / Em vas trobar, em vas trobar
Lying on the floor / Tirat en el terra
Surrounded, surrounded / Envoltat, envoltat
Why’d you have to wait? / Perquè has d'esperar?
Where were you, where were you? / On estàs, on estàs?
Just a little late / Nomès una mica tard
You found me, You found me / Tu em vas trobar, tu em vas trobar.

Early morning / Al matí aviat
The city breaks / La ciutat es trenca
I’ve been calling / Jo vaig estar trucant
For years and years and years and years / Per anys i anys i anys i anys
And you never left me no messages / I tu mai em vas deixar un missatge
You never sent me no letters / Tu mai m'enviaves cartes
You got some kind of nerve / Tens algun tipus de nervi
Taking all I want / Agafant tot el que jo vull.

Lost and insecure / Perdut i insegur
You found me, you found me / Em vas trobar, em vas trobar
Lying on the floor / Tirat en el terra
Where were you, where were you? / On estàs, on estàs?

Lost and insecure / Perdut i insegur
You found me, you found me / Em vas trobar, em vas trobar
Lying on the floor / Tirat en el terra
Surrounded, surrounded / Envoltat, envoltat
Why’d you have to wait? / Perquè has d'esperar?
Where were you, where were you? / On estàs, on estàs?
Just a little late / Nomès una mica tard
You found me, You found me / Tu em vas trobar, tu em vas trobar.

Why’d you have to wait / Perquè m'has d'esperar
To find me, to find me? / per trobar-me, per trobar-me?

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
falling apart: trossets
lying: estirat (en aquest cas)
surrounded: envoltat

WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL.

2009-02-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL - RONAN KEATING.

It's amazing how you / És sorprenent com tu
can speak right to my heart. / pots parlar directe al meu cor.
Without saying a word, /sense dir una paraula,
you can light up the dark / tu pots il·luminar la fosocor
Try as I may / Per molt que ho intenti
I could never explain / no puc trobar-hi una explicació
what I hear when / el que sento quan
you don't say a thing. / tu no dius res.

The smile on your face / El somriure a la teva cara
lets me know that you need me, / em fa saber que tu em necessites,
There's a truth in your eyes / Hi ha una sinceritat en els teus ulls
saying you'll never leave me / dient que tu mai em deixaràs
The touch of your hand / La força de la teva mà
says you'll catch me / diu que m'agafaràs
when ever I fall / sempre que caigui.
You say it best, / Tu dius el millor,
when you say nothing at all / quan no dius res.

All day long I can hear / Durant tot el dia puc sentir
people talking out loud / gent parlant alt.
But when you hold me near, / Però quan tu m'abraçes
you drown out the crowd / no puc sentir la multitud.
Try as they may / Per molt que ho intentin
they can never define / ells mai podrien dir
what's been said between / que s'han estat dien entre
your heart and mine. / el teu cor i el meu.

The smile on your face / El somriure a la teva cara
lets me know that you need me, / em fa saber que tu em necessites,
There's a truth in your eyes / Hi ha una sinceritat en els teus ulls
saying you'll never leave me / dient que tu mai em deixaràs
The touch of your hand / La força de la teva mà
says you'll catch me / diu que m'agafaràs
when ever I fall / sempre que caigui.
You say it best, / Tu dius el millor,
when you say nothing at all / quan no dius res.

The smile on your face / El somriure a la teva cara
lets me know that you need me, / em fa saber que tu em necessites,
There's a truth in your eyes / Hi ha una sinceritat en els teus ulls
saying you'll never leave me / dient que tu mai em deixaràs
The touch of your hand / La força de la teva mà
says you'll catch me / diu que m'agafaràs
when ever I fall / sempre que caigui.
You say it best, / Tu dius el millor,
when you say nothing at all / quan no dius res.

You say it best when you say nothing at all / Dius el millor quan no dius res
You say it best when you say nothing at all. / Dius el millor quan no dius res.

The smile on your face / El somriure a la teva cara
The truth in your eyes / La sinceritat dels teus ulls
The touch of your hand / La força de la teva mà
Let's me know that you need me. / Em diuen que em necessites.

You say it best when you say nothing at all / Dius el millor quan no dius res
You say it best when you say nothing at all. / Dius el millor quan no dius res.

I really like this song, and also it brings me a lot of really good memories, so I hope you like it;).

GLOBAL WARMING.

2009-02-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

“On August 28, for the first time in human story, the North Pole became an island. It was the first time that both, the Arctic’s northwest and northeast passages, running along.
Canada and Russia arctic coasts, were both free of ice, allowing ships to circumnavigate the northern icecap. The tipping point was the raced-toss of ice last year, reaching a level not expected until 2050, while a blessing for international shipping.
Cutting the trip from Germany to Japan by 4000 miles, according to one company the trend indicates that predictions of global warming are occurring such sooner than generally expected.”

Catalonia Today, September 2008, Thursday 11, nº 302.

If you want to read my opinion:

This article is about the global warming. About this topic, I think that every minute that pass, the ozone layer is worst, so I think that we must control everything related with this,. For example, sometimes, we took the car for go to the supermarket, when it’s five minutes walking of our home. If we don’t control things like that, the world could finish very bad.
I know that it’s difficult renounce to your comforts for save a little bit the planet, and normally people think: “I do it, but if the other people don’t do the same like me, it’s no point that I do it, so I finish doing it.” Maybe there are a lot of people that have this think, so I think that if all of us put a little of our part, we can do something important, and we can save a little bit the planet.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
Renounce: renunciar.
Comforts: comoditats.
No point: inútil.

HITACHI SUPER EXPRESS.

2009-02-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

Click here to see the video.

In Britain, there is a project that will be able to use in 2013. This project consists in build an electric quickly train. The name of the train will be Hitachi Super Express. The train will go to London to Edinburgh in twelve minutes, so the journeys will be faster. Also, this new projects will create a lot of places for job.
This project will use a very big technology. The train will go to 125 miles for hour, and it will have longer carriages.
Now, there is a lot of people working with this project. It’s a difficult project, but it will be very safe.
The estimate price is 7500000 pounds.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
carriages: vagons.

VALENTINE'S DAY

2009-02-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

I can't put the video here, but if you want to see it, click here.

The video is about Saint Valentine’s Day.

Staffordshire town has been named as one of the least romantic places in Britain. People aren’t romantic, and they don’t give to her partner a present.
There are two couple that celebre the Saint Valentine’s Day on the football pitch, and one of these couples are married twice.
In the shopping centre, there are a lot of shops that sells presents for this day, like chocolate with a heart form.
The most gave present in these day are flowers. The husband gives to his wife a big bunch of flowers. Normally, the flowers are roses, so the florist’s must work a lot on this date.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
least: menys.
bunch: ram (de flors).

DESCRIPTION OF A PLACE.

2009-02-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

P.S: I'm sorry for the bad quality of the sound. I don't know what happens with my microphone.

You can read the description here:

"This photo is taken in “Les Roques Del Tit”, in Ventalló. I went to this place in November 2008.
Well, on top of the photo, on the left, there are reeds with green leaves. Below the reeds, there is me. I’m sitting on the floor, to be precise, in a rock. When I was there, if I looked under my feed, I could see the river under me.
The other part of the photo, you can see the river. On the superior part, the river is moving, and you can see the other side of the river, full of little grey rocks and weed.
Slightly below the moved river, you can see a straight line of rocks, which divide the river in moved and calmed. Below the rocks, the river is calm, with a great reflection of the sun.
On the most rightist part of the photo, you can see branches of a tree. Next to me, on the rock, there is more green weed.
I like to go to this place, because I feel relaxed and good.
I think that it’s a little bit difficult to go to this place, but later to do the effort for arrive here it’s a really good experience.
I think that it’s a good place to go when you are sad and you need stay lonely and think with your things but also I think that it’s a little bit dangerous go alone, because there are a lot of precipices.
I went to this place for first time when I was ten, with the centre in the summer. We went by bicycle, but now, when I went here, I went with all my friends with our motorbikes."

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
Reed: canya.
To be precise: concretament.
Rock: roca.
Weed: mala herba.
Straight: recta
Effort: esforç
Precipices: precipicis.
Centre: casal.

DESCRIPTION OF A FRIEND.

2009-02-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

You know him. His name is Pau, and he is sixteen years old, but on Tuesday, he will be seventeen!
I met Pau since I was two years old, so I think that it's a good motive to describe him.
Well, I will start describing Pau physically. About his height you know that Pau it’s very tall! And when I’m walking to his side, I feel really short.
Apart from his height, Pau is very slim.
He has brown eyes, and his mouth and his nose are normal. About his hair, usually he brings a crest like a cock!
I like the way he wear. Usually, he brings a sweater, the trousers fallen with a belt and his white trainers. It’s simple, but I like it.
Well, about his personality, I think that better it can’t be!
Always, when I need something I’m sure that he will be with me, and I checked it.
Sometimes, when you feel bad, you need some fondness, and Pau, doesn’t matter the way that is, will give you all that you need. Sometimes, when I’m alone in home, and I feel bad, I talk with he in messenger, and he start to say silly things, and I finish the moment forgetting all those things that I was worry about. He is a good example of a really good friend. Do not you believe it?
About Pau, he likes play football. He plays in Sant Pere Pescador team, and he is the goalkeeper, but now, he is sent off the team for a days!
He likes a lot listen to music, and his favourite music group is Marea.
When Pau have persons around he that he doesn’t have a lot of confidence, Pau is very shy and quiet.
When weekend comes, Pau it’s happy. Why? He likes a lot going party and go out with his friends. Pau is a person who I spend almost of my free-time with other people, and these moments that I spend with he are unforgettable. There is a little ant? We will laugh about it. I don’t know what type of friendship we have, but I like a lot. Always we are laughing, but when we must serious, we are serious.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
height: altura.
goalkeeper: porter.
crest: cresta.
cock: gall.
fondness: carinyo, apreci.

DIFFERENCES ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE FILM OF FRANKENSTEIN.

2009-02-11T04:37:00.000-08:00

We read the book of Frankenstein in home, and later, in class, we watched the film. We can see that there are a lot of differences between the film and the book.
I didn’t see the film since the beginning, but I asked to my friends and they answered to me what happened at the beginning.
In the book, Victor Frankenstein's mother died in the Victor brother’s labour, but in the film, her mother died ill a time later in Victor’s laboratory.
In the film, Ernest didn’t appear, but appears the mother of Justine, but they didn’t say her name.
In the film, when it’s time for Victor to go to the university, they did a party, but in the book, nothing happened.
In the book, Victor Frankenstein meets Henry since he was young, but in the film, Victor meets Henry at the University.
In the book, Victor did the monster with his teacher, but in the film, the teacher died, and Victor takes his book of notes and Victor used it like a help.
In the book, the laboratory of Victor it’s far from the university, but in the film, the laboratory is in Victor’s bedroom.
In the book, Victor Frankenstein experiment is a secret thing, and in the film, his friend Henry knows that Victor is doing it.
When the monster killed the little brother of Frankenstein, everybody accused Justine, but in the film, there isn’t any trial before hang Justine, and any judge.
The little brother of Frankenstein, when he was murdered, he brings a chain that it was the alliance of Victor and Elisabeth, and it brings the photo of Victor. The monster takes the alliance form the pocket of the little boy and put near of Justine.
In the film, not all the things that the monster does are bad. The monster saved a girl when she was falling in a river.
In the book, Victor Frankenstein’s father died because he was very sad, and in the film, he died murdered of the monster.
In the film, at the moment that the monster is outside the hut of the old blind man, there is a men who go to the hut for charge the rent of the house, and the man was frightened to see the monster and he run and the old man did mustn’t pay the rent.
In the film the monster asks to Frankenstein if he can make a girlfriend for him, and Victor refused his idea because Frankenstein wants his girlfriend with Justine’s body. Later, the monster said to Victor that we will be in his wedding night, and the difference between the book it’s that Victor, in the book accepted to do a girlfriend for the monster and when he was finishing the creature, Victor starts to destroy the body, and the monster said to Victor that he will be in his wedding night.
In the wedding night, on the film, the monster murdered Elisabeth, and later, Victor wants to rebuild Elisabeth and he took the body of Justine and the head of Elisabeth.
When “Elisabeth” started to move, Victor began to say her name and the monster too. Elisabeth doesn’t know that he must do, and we burned herself and the house burned too.
In the film, the creature burned himself near of the death body of her father, Victor Frankenstein in a middle of the ice. The monster wants die with Victor, and in the book, the monster died freeze in the middle of the ice.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
to be in labour: anar de part
trial: judici
hang: penjar
hut: cabanya
freeze: congelar

CHRISTMAS FOOD.

2008-12-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

For many people, sometimes, the most important part of Christmas is the food.
In Catalonia, there is a different food for every pointed day. On Christmas day, on 25th of December, the people start the meal eating canopés or little tapas dishes before the escudella. The three-part dish, is carn d'olla, that includes botifarra sausage and a grant meatball, wich were used to make the soup. Next, is roasted poultry such as capon, turkey or chicken. The dessert consists in torró, and tube-shaped biscuits, and of course, it's all accompanied by several glasses of cava.
The next day, on Sant Esteve, people usually eat canelons.
On New Year's Eve, the people eat 12 grapes accompany of the 12 strokes of midnight for good luck in the next year.
The last day is el dia de Reis, and the special food of this day, is kings' cake. Hidden within the cake is a king and a butter bean. Who extracts the butter bean, must pay the kings' cake the next year, and who extracts the king, will have good luck throughout whole year.

This new is extracted from the magazine Resident Costa Brava, December 2007, nº28.

NEW VOCABULARY LEARNED:
troughout: per tot.
tube-shaped biscuits: neules.
giant meatball: pilota.
butter bean: fava.

FORMAL LETTER.

2008-12-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

54, Avinguda Onze de Setembre

Sant Pere Pescador
17470

I.E.S Castelló d'Empúries
Rentador Street
Castelló d'Empúries
17486

9th, December 2008

Dear Ms. Pintó,
I want to write a letter to you to show the negative and positive points about our school.
About the negative points, I think that the walls could be more colorful and more decorated, because everything is grey. This colour makes us pessimist when we come into the school. Maybe, if the playground was not full of sand, and was full of grass the school will be nicer.
About the positive points, I thinkt that it is a good idea the "tamagochis", because the parents of the classmates can control better his sons and daughters. About the batxillerat classes, do not have class in the afternoon is a good point, because we have more time to do our homework and study more hard.
Well, apart from negative points, I think that this school is not really bad, so it has points that will be able to change to positive and it will be better.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerly,

Laura Carrera.

MARTIN LUTHER KING'S AND OBAMA'S EXTRA POINTS.

2008-11-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

Questions for preparing Martin Luther King's text:

1. What rigths did black people have in the UThew werSA in the 1960's?
They didn't have any rights.

2. What was "segregation"?
Black and White people must be repartated in a lot of places: buses, beaches, churchs... and when a black person was found in a place for white people, he was arrested. In the train and buses black people must leave their seat to white people.

3. What did states as Georgia, Mississippi or Alabama have in common in the 1960's?
They were segregationit states.

4. Who were the "Piligrims"?
They were the irst english people who arrived in America.

5. What is a "spiritual"?
A spiritual is a song that sing black people in their religions congregations.

VOCABULARY:
Rooted: radical
Rise up: Aixecar
Creed: creença
Hold: aguantar
Swelter: acalorar
Heat: calor
Rough: aspre
Crooked: encurvat
Straight: en línia recta
Flesh: gènere humà
Despair: desesperança
Hope: esperança

Questions for preparing Barack Obama's text:

1. When did women get the right to vote in the United States?
Women get the right to vote in 1917.

2. What was the "New Deal"?
Is an slogan used by Roasvelt as a creed in electrons in 1932.

3. Paragraph 6 refers to "the bombs" fallin on "our harbor". Which bombs and which harbor is B. Obama referring to?
Japanese bombs in Pearlt harbor.

4. What was the "Montgomery bus boycott"?
Black people didn't catch buses because police had arrested a black woman who didn't want give her seat to a white man.

5. To know who the "preacher form Atlanta" was, check.
The Preacher from Atlanta was Martin Luther King.

6. When did the Berlin wall fall down?
The Berlin wall felt down in 1989.

7. What happened in the Edmund Pettus Bridge, outside Selma, in 1965?
It was here that rights marchers were vidently confronted by law enforcement on March 7, 1965. The day became known as Bloody Sunday.

8. To understand the reference to the Birmingham hoses, check:
The Birmingham hoses were used to protect themselves from firemen with hight pressure water hoses.

VOCABULARY:

Ballot: papereta de votar
Cast a ballot: tirar el seu vot
Slavery: esclavitud
Creed: creença
Despair: desesperança
Conquer: vencer
Witness: testimoni
Preacher: predicador
Sum up: recapitular/resumir

PIRATES.

2008-11-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday, an official said that an Indian warship has exchanged fire with a pirate "mother vessel" off the hijacking-plagued Horn of Africa, leaving the ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden.
The skirmish took place Tuesday evening about 525 kilometers southwest of Oman's Salalah port.
The Saudi owners of a hijacked oil supertanker carrying an oil cargo worth up to $100 million, which pirates Tuesday anchored off the Somali coast, said they were negotiating with its captors.
The ministry said that the pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel, with guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
On wednesday, it wasn't clear, that if the mother ship sank afther the naval fighting.
The assistant director of the International Maritime Bureau in London, said that they never seen a situation like this with the pirates.
On Tuesday, pirates hijacked a Thai fishing vessel and a Chinese-flagged Iranian cargo shio carrying wheat in the waters off the Horn of Africa.
Noel choong, said that 95 pirate attacks have taken place so far this year in the Gulf of Aden.
Of those 95, 39 resulted in successful captures; 17 of those vessels and their crews remain in the hands of the pirates (a total of about 300 sailors).
But the seizure of the 300.000-ton supertanker Sirius Star took place well sout of the gulf, in the Indian Ocean of Kenya.
Pirate attacks are spreading farther north to the Gulf of Aden and farther soutf of the Kenyan coast.

This notice is taken from this link.

NEW VOCABULARY:
Hijacking: segrestador/segrest.
Skirmish: escaramussa.
Deck: coberta del vaixell.
Vessel: embarcació.

EUROPASS LANGUAGE PASSPORT.

2008-11-19T06:52:00.000-08:00

ORAL PRESENTATION.

2008-11-15T02:10:00.001-08:00

TOPIC: HAPINESS.

Presentation:
1. Did you use any resources? Yes, powerpoint.
2. Were the resources relevant and attractive? Yes.

Body language and eye contact:
3. Did you look at your audience most of the time? Not most of the time, but yes.
4. Did you read from your notes? A little.
5. Did you do any gestures/movement to hold the attention of you audience? A little.

Structure:
6. Did you organize your ideas in order of importance? Yes.
7. Did you use discourse makers to make your ideas more clear? A little.

Content:
8. Did you introduce interesting, NEW information to your audience? Yes.
9. Did you look up information/facts/ideas in the Internet/books? Yes.
10. Was your information more superficial or more detailed and original? A little of everything.

Language:
11. Did you use check your grammar? Yes.
12. Did you use rich vocabulary looking up the dictionary? Yes.
13. Did you use sentence linkers? A little.
14. Did you use fillers? A little.

Pronunciation & Intonation:
15. Did you know how to pronunce all you words? Yes.
Did you check the pronunciation with a dictionary, a classmate or the teacher? Yes, all of them.
16. Did you change your tone of voice or use a monotone tone all the time? The same tone all the time.
Did you speed in a fluid continuum or with breaks and interruptions? With breaks and interruptions.

Self-Evaluation:
If I was the teacher, I would put a maximum of 6.

Write down a LITERAL TRNASCRIPTION of your presentation.
Hello, my name is Laura and I'm gonna want to speak about Hapiness. I'm the first of do the oral presentation so I'm a little nervous.
Well, I will start with the definition of happiness that it's my topic.
Hapiness is an emotion that express your feelings in a concret moment of your life with laughs and good moments.
We are sometimes happy because we like the world around us or we feel good with ourselves for example when we stay with our friends, when we pass a hard exam, when happens something that make us very satisfaid.
We can't be always in a permanent state of happiness or sadness. Our brain alows short moments of hapiness or sadness. He can't tolerate be happy or sadness forever.
As you can see in the graphic I think that it's incorrect because we can stay sad and two minutes later stat very happy... I'm not saying that it's impossible, but I don't believe in it.
I think that it's the best state of mind because you aren't happy but your aren't sad.
We can't live in a roller coaster of emotions, we need a medium state.
Usually happiness drives to the optimist. I think that it's better to be optimist than pessimist because you can look you life in another point of view and everything could be better.
If you think I can, I can, I can... you would can, and if you think I can't, I can't, I can't you would can't.
In the world, not all the countries have the same degree of happiness, as you can see in the map, the countries that have green and blue colors, are happiness than the others, like Australia, New Zeland, Canada, United States are more happiness than subdeveloped countries.
I think that the people that are from developed countries are happy because they mustn't worry about necessities like food or a place to sleep everynight.
I think that the money doesn't drive to the happines, but you feel better thinking that you mustn't worry about it.
I choose to talk about this topic because now we are in the one of the best periodes of our lives.
Because we don't have any preocupation, we must study, enjoy ourselves and be happy.

Check your Language and Structure. Can you correct your mistakes?

In my next oral presentation I think that I must be more calm, and don't be nervous.
I must look more the people that are listening me, and use more sentence linkers, more fillers...
I think that if my oral presentation was more longer, it can be better.
I believe that these are the big mistakes in my oral presentation, so in the next, I will try to improve them in the maximum as I can.

Now, if you want, you can look my PowerPoint.

HORROR STORY (CORRECTION).

2008-11-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

Julia and Peter,they were a couple of Catalan people who went to New York for work. They spend two weeks searching a flat, but they didn't find anything. Meanwhile they stayed in a cheap hotel in the suburbs of New York, when their work was in the middle of the city.
One day, when the couple went to work, they saw in the newspaper an interesting advertising. A big flat in the centre of New York, in the most popular district, was offered for a very low price. They were surprised and they phoned to the state agent immediately.
They moved to the flat quickly, and they were very happy.
Everything began when thet went to sleep. During the night, they heard a little noise in their bedroom. the first weels, they didn't worryy about it. Every night, the sound was higher. Julia was afraid, but Peter laughed. One day, when Peter was having a shower, Julia wanted to discover the origin of the noise. She searched around the bedroom, and when she looked under the bed, she began to cry. Peter heard her, and when he wanted to went out of the bathroom, suddenly, the door was closed. He couldn't open it. Julia was crying a lot because she saw an awful elf playing with little glass balls. He looke her with eyes full of hate. she didn't stop crying, and the elf started running around and throwing the little glass balls to her. The elf put into the balls all of his hate, and they killed Julia. The elf returned under the bed and Pere could open the door. In the bedroom he saw Julia dead on the floor covered of blood.

- Words in red are those I've corrected.

THIRTEEN & ADRIAN MOLE.

2008-11-08T03:00:00.001-08:00

About the life of the two teenagers, I think that Tracy, it's harder than Adrian Mole.
Tracy at the begining of the film, was a really good student, she had two friends, a normal friends, but later, she began to go with Evie, a false friend, because she was involved in drugs, smoke, alcohol... but Adrian, didn't change during the book. Adrian was a typical adolescent, with his problems in house, with his spots, with girlfriends... Adrian was an hypocondriac, a shy person who had bulling at school, trough the fault of Barry Kent, that hurt him.
Both have one common problem, the divorce of their parents.
Tracy, during the film suffered saveran changes, like passing of dressing as a 13-year-old girl to dress as one of 19, consuming drugs, smoking, and the worst thing: cutting herself. Tracy was anorexic.
I think that if Evie didn't appear in the Tracy's life, Tracy didn't change, because the only that Tracy wants, was be like Evie, a very beautiful girl that the boys were behind yours and have many boyfriends to choose, but the plan to being a popular girl, proved badly.
I don't know anybody who has gone through the same experiences, but if I'll see someone, I'll help him in everything that he need:)
I disagree with the sentence "If you're not that way, you're nothing", because someone can be a kind person even if he isn't a fashion victim.
I think that you don't have to do a thing that you never will do to be friend of another people, who in the end, will be harmful for you.
I don't think that Tracy is a fashion victim, I think that she does it to be a friend of Evie, like stole a purse and then bought a lot of clothes with her friends.
I think that Thirteen is a shocking film because see that a girl of thirteen years old is changing to bad, and it's starting to go with "bad" people, isn't very agreeable...
The most shocking of the film for me was when Tracy began to cut herself. I think that you must be very bad to do things like that.
Finally, I have liked both, the book and the film.
In comparision, I think that they are different points of view to see the adolescence. Thirteen it's harder than Adrian Mole, but both have problems of the adolescenthood.

ADRIAN MOLE.

2008-11-07T11:11:00.001-08:00

Adrian Mole, is an hypochondriac adolescent.
He has many problems with his spots. He has a lot of spots, and he believes that it's for not eating vitamins.
In his spare time, he helps Bert Baxter, an old man.
Adrian is in love with Pandora, a new girl in his class. Time later, Pandora start to going out with Nigel, and Adrian is so angry, apart from that Nigel has a new bicycle, the same that Adrian wants.
His parents have a divorce. His mother go up with his neighbour, Mr.Lucas, and his father it's lonely, with he, in his house.
The father of Adrian losts his job, and they haven't any money to pay the telephone and light bills.
Adrian has problems in his school. There is a boy who hurts him; Barry Kent. He tells everything to his grandmother and his grandmother go to hurt him, and Barry Kent stops to hurt Adrian.
Nigel and Pandora have broken up, and Adrian is very happy.
His father starts to going out with Doren, who will be his girlfriend.
Adrian must go to the hospital, because he has tonsils, and he must remove it.
Adrian was a time going out with Pandora, but she wouldn't have sex with Adrian, and Adrian was worried.
Finally his parents going out again, because his mother says that Mr. Lucas treat her like a sex object, and Adrian is very happy.

E-MAIL.

2008-11-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

Hi!
My name is Laura. Now I want to tell you my Summer.
This Summer I was working in my town, Sant Pere Pescador in a place where my family has always know called Mas Gusó.
I stayed on the bar. I did ice-creams, cocktails and prepare the drink because the waiters can serve this in the terrace.
I began to work on 1st of July and finished on 11th of September.
I enjoyed so much with the people that I worked. We went to party so much and we smiled a lot!:)
I think that fifty words are few to explain my big Summer!=)
See you.
XXX
Laura.

VITAMIN B6.

2008-10-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

The vitamin B6, has become an increasing source for energy and to combat our stress.
If we take a lot of this vitamins, could be bad for our health, because we can reduce our touch of the hands and feet, and we could have other problems of the nervous system.
When we want to vitamin B6 in a natural way, we can find this in the pork, cereals, fish, poultry, eggs, fruits and vegetables.
If you want to take vitamin B6, be careful;)

This notice is taken from this link.

NEW VOCABULARY:
Sensory: sensorials
Widely: ampliament
Widespread: generalitzat

GOING SHOPPING.

2008-10-16T03:58:00.001-07:00

Two friends, Laura and Laura, will go to shopping in the afternoon. They are talking by phone and meet for one hour.

[Riiiinnng, Riiiinngg]

Laura Penkert: Hello?
Laura Carrera: Hi! I'm Laura! How are you?
Laura Penkert: Oh, very well, and you?
Laura Carrera: Good as well. I wanted to ask you if you want come shopping this afternoon with me.
Laura Penkert: Yes, of course! I wasn't doing anything today! What time?
Laura Carrera: Mmm... I don't know... at four?
Laura Penkert: Ok! Let's meet at the bus station.
Laura Carrera: Yes, see you later!
Laura Penkert: Bye!

[...] One and a half hour later...

Laura Carrera: Laura! I'm here!
Laura Penkert: Oh! Sorry... I'm a bit late, did you have to wait for a long time?
Laura Carrera: Don't worry! I've just arrived.
Laura Penkert: Well, let's look what the new fashion is!
Laura Carrera: Ok, where shall we start?
Laura Penkert: Let's just keep going.

[...] When they are walking around the city...

Laura Carrera: Oh! Look at this t-shirt! I really like it! Let's go into the shop!
Laura Penkert: Yes, I love it to! Laura, Laura! Come! Look at this. Do you think that this trousers would suit me?
Laura Carrera: Yes, of course! Go and try them on!
Laura Penkert: And you take the t-shirt!
Laura Carrera: You look wonderful with this trousers Laura! You must buy them!
Laura Penkert: And I love your t-shirt as well. ;)
Laura Carrera: Let's pay and go to another shop.

[...] After to pay, when they are walking...

Laura Penkert: We don't need to go into this one. Everything is too trendy. I don't like it!
Laura Carrera: Yes, we must! I love this brand and this type of clothes!
Laura Penkert: If you want it...
Laura Carrera: I'm going to buy this trousers and this two sweatshirts.
Laura Penkert: You are mad! How can you spend so much money on this horrible things?
Laura Carrera: Don't complain my style please!
Laura Penkert: Ok, sorry, but now, let's go and drink something. It's enought shopping for today.
Laura Carrera: Good, I'm thirsty too and I'm happy with my new clothes.

HAPINESS.

2008-10-11T05:42:00.000-07:00

Only we could see some 25-30 minutes of the movie.
Hapiness isn't a movie with a plot or a story that happens.
There are several cases that happen in a life day every day. Problems in house, with family, whith friends, work...
There were several cases, one, was a marriage that wanted to divorce, another was a manifestation of a company worker, another was the death of a friend of one block of flats and there was a girl that was in love with him.
This films was some bored, I prefer the films that happens a story, and for choose, a comedy story.

THE STORY OF CHUPA CHUPS.

2008-10-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

Enric Bernat, a Catalan confectioner, invented the "sweet ball on a stick". At the begining, he called it GOL, but later became Chups and more later, thanks to a jingle, became Chupa Chups.
Chupa Chups was sold in 168 countries, and was the best bussines of Catalonia. Enric Bernet, sold his bussines for 40.000 milion of € to an italian company.
The daisy logo was crated by Salvador Dalí in 1969.
Chupa Chups started with 18 grams, but in 1970, slimmed down to 12 grams.
The famous lollipop have 127 flavours. Strawberry is the most popular flavour worldwide. Other flavours are Cola, Peach, Kiwi, Passion fruit, Blueberry...
In 1965, the company used milk for the production of the Strawberry Cream flavour. In the past six years, they invented a Chupa Chups sugar-free, called Cremosa, and Relax Chupa Chups with contains herbal extracts of lemon balm and flowers.
The company, participed in campaigns with SEAT, FC Barcelona...

This article is taken form the magazine's President of the March 2008 (number 31)

NEW VOCABULARY:
Worldwide: arreu del món
Aghast: horroritzat
Slightly: lleugerament
Struggling: lluitar contra un contrincant
Well focused: donar-li atenció
Whooping: enorme
Geard: preparat específicament(en aquest cas)
Pinched: robar
However: per descomptat

AN HORROR STORY.

2008-10-11T02:37:00.000-07:00

Julia and Pere were a couple of catalan people who went to New York for work. They spend two weeks searching a flat, but they didn't find nothing. Meanwhile they stayed in a cheap hotel in the suburbs of New York, when their work was in the middle of the city.
One day, when the couple went to work, they saw in the newspaper an interesting advertising. A big flat in the center of the city, in the most popular city district, was offered for a very low price. They were surprised and they phoned to the state agend immediately.
They moved to the flat quickly, and they were very happy.
Everything began when they went to sleep. During the night, they heard a little noise in their bedroom. The first weeks, they didn't worry about it. Every night, the sound was higher. Julia was afraid, but Pere laughed . One day, when Pere was having a shower, Julia wanted to discover the origin of the noise. She searched around the bedroom, and when she looked under the bed, she began to cry. Pere heard her, and when he wanted to went out of the bathroom, suddenly, the door was closed. He couldn't open it. Julia was crying a lot because she saw an awful elf playing with little glass balls. He looked her with eyes full of hate. She didn't stop to cry, and the elf started to run around and threwing the little glass balls to her. The elf put into the balls all of his hate, and they killed Julia. The elf returned under the bed and Pere could open the door. In the bedroom he saw Julia dead on the floor covered of blood.