Fashion issues.

I disagree with today's need of looking trendy and cool to feel good about ourselves, but I don't think the problem is the people that try to follow fashion trends to be accepted by the others; the problem is the society that condition most people to be all the same and dress like following a dress code just not to be different and not to stand out. The other big problem about fashion is fashion industry and the skinny models that appear in all fashion parades and in all adverts, so they make people think that all women must be like that and support that idea of beauty. The worst part of the problem is the thousands of girls, the majority teens, that had got or are getting into trouble with food and suffer food disorders. Another fashion problem is that clothes sizes are getting smaller and smaller each time so people have to wear a bigger size than they used to, and this makes people feel insecure about themselves thinking that they have gain weight but that´s not real because their body still the same.

Today's teenagers way of life.

From my viewpoint, today's young people don't know how to have a good time without smoking and drinking. Nowadays, almost teenagers and even the oldest childs are developing a new generation and a new way of living too. They are used to going out every weekend and coming home so late after partying, binge drinking or smoking from an early age. This routine may have terrible consequences such as the difficulties to keep a clean environment due to all the rubbish that rest after binge drinking, the unkind and unpolite behavior of teenagers with adults and the big damage that modern teenagers' brains are suffering. Many of these teenagers are strongly influenced by their close friends, especially when there is a large age difference between them and they want to do things that aren't allowed to a younger person.
As I see it, teenagers should stop these bad habits and try new things to have a healthier and happier life:
- Stop drinking and smoking doesn't mean to stop having fun; try new activities like going to the cinema or going to the park for a walk

- Learn to say no to bad habits when they try to come back to your life.

- Try to find new hobbies or amusements you are keen on.

Above all, be happy and healthy, and surround yourself with good people that really love you.

My favourite sport.

I´m not a person interested in many sports, but there is one that I particularly like watching, and it is football. When I was a child, my grandfather and my father, were keen of football and they strongly supported  Real Madrid so when I grew more and got conscious of what does football mean and what it consists of I started to like it too. Afterwards, my mother also started to watch it and now she is the most fanatic of us. We really like watching almost matches together and we have had very good moments thanks to football. The two best memories I have from football are the moments when Spain won the World Cup for the first time and when finally, after 12 years, Real Madrid won the 10th Champions League. However, the experience I will never forget, is the day that my brother took me to Madrid for my birthday and as a surprise we saw Real Madrid playing in its Stadium. Moreover, we were in the first row and I could perfectly saw my favourite player, Cristiano Ronaldo, making an amazing match.


 

The Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty was a conjunct effort between France and the United States, intended to commemorate the centennial of American Declaration of Independence and  the lasting friendship between the peoples of the two nations. The French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi created the statue itself out of sheets of hammered copper, while Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower, designed the statue’s steel framework. The Statue of Liberty was then given to the United States and erected on top of an American-designed pedestal on a small island in Upper New York Bay, now known as Liberty Island. Statue´s significance grew as an inspiration to immigrants who sailed passed her on their way to America. Today, the Statue of Liberty remains an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy, as well as one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks.

My favourite actor: Will Smith

Will Smith is an actor, rapper and film and television producer who was born on September 25, 1968 in Wynnefield, Pennsylvania a middle-class suburb in West Philadelphia. He was the oldest son and one of four children of Willard (a refrigeration company owner) and Caroline (a school board employee). He studied in a Catholic school, as a teen he attended Overbrook High, where his teachers nicknamed him as “the Prince”. After highschool he was accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineering program due to his good grades. When he was a teenager, he met DJ Jeff Townes at a party; after that they became friends and a rap duo called DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. Their success on rapping made some Hollywood executives awared of Will´s ability to charm the audience so that Benny Medina offered him the opportunity to star in a new show called “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. Smith played the role of Will, a Philadelphia teen sent to live with his wealthy and refined aunt and uncle in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. While still making The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Smith began a crossover into movies. He played small roles in the drama Where The Day Takes You (1992) and the comedy Made In America (1993). His real success on this field started with the film Bad Boys (1995). After it, he appeared in Independence Day (1996), Men in Black (1997) and many other blockbusters, such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "The Pursuit of Happiness", a film I really like because it is a beautiful film inspired in a real life experience and it has made me appreciate the small beautiful things in life.

Advantages and disadvantages of winning the lottery.

Although there are many opportunities for a jackpot winner such as sorting out your or your familiy's debts, travelling, launching a business, spending money on some whims or donating money to charity, I would like to make you conscious of the main risks that a sudden win could have from my point of view. The main drawbacks are the possibility of squandering money on luxuries or things you don't really need and be influenced by selfish people who are inevitably attracted by the winner's instant success and his or her new-found status. In addition, people who win the lottery become suspicious of everyone, they think everybody wants to steal from them and they are unable to rely on someone, even their family or closer friends.

PUNCTUATION.

1. The men in question (Harold Keene, Jim Peterson, and Gerald Greene) deserve awards.

2. Several countries participated in the airlift: Italy, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.

3. ‘Only one course was open to us: surrender,’ said the ex-major, ‘and we did.’

4. Judge Carswell - later to be nominated for the Supreme Court - had ruled against civil rights.

5. In last week's New Yorker, one of my favourite magazines, I enjoyed reading Leland's article ‘How Not to Go Camping’.

6. ‘Yes,’ Jim said, ‘I'll be home by ten.’

7. There was only one thing to do - study till dawn.

8. Montaigne wrote the following: ‘A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.’

9. The following are the primary colours: red, blue, and yellow.

10. Arriving on the 8:10 plane were Liz Brooks, my old roommate; her husband; and Tim, their son.

11. When the teacher commented that her spelling was poor, Lynn replied: ‘All the members of my family are poor spellers. Why not me?’

12. He used the phrase ‘you know’ so often that I finally said: ‘No, I don't know.’

13. The automobile dealer handled three makes of cars: Volkswagens, Porsches, and Mercedes Benz.

14. Though Phil said he would arrive on the 9:19 flight, he came instead on the 10:36 flight.

15. ‘Whoever thought,’ said Helen, ‘that Jack would be elected class president?’

16. In baseball, a ‘show boat’ is a man who shows off.

17. The minister quoted Isaiah 5:21 in last Sunday's sermon.

18. There was a very interesting article entitled ‘The New Rage for Folk Singing’ in last Sunday's New York Times newspaper.

19. ‘Whoever is elected secretary of the club - Ashley, or Chandra, or Aisha -must be prepared to do a great deal of work,’ said Jumita, the previous secretary.

20. Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) caused a great controversy when it appeared.

21. We had a great time in France – the kids really enjoyed it.

22. Some people work best in the mornings; others do better in the evenings.

23. What are you doing next weekend?

24. Mother had to go into hospital: she had heart problems.

25. Did you understand why I was upset?

26. It is a fine idea; let us hope that it is going to work.

27. We will be arriving on Monday morning – at least I think so.

28. A textbook can be a ‘wall’ between teacher and class.

29. The girl’s father sat in a corner.

30. In the words of Murphy’s Law: ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.’

My brother: a half of me.

Last week, it was my brother's birthday. He has just turned 31 but he still feeling and looking like a teenager.

My brother is the most important person for me, since our eldest sisters moved house and become independent from our parents early, so we have been together since I was born. Despite the age difference (he is 13 years older than me) and our different genders my brother is everything for me. Everybody says that a fraternal relationship is stronger when both people have the same gender, but this is completely false; I would never change my brother for a million of sisters.

My brother's character and mine are very different since we only share our love for all kind of animals and our nobleness, but we perfectly complement each other.

If I were the jackpot winner....

If I won a lot of money in the lottery I would really be in sock, I have to admit that at first I would start spending my money in whims as clothes, shoes and cars but after that, when I´d be awared of the big responsability that winning the jackpot prize carries, I´d get a better organization to spend my money, I would donate some of the money to charity and people who really need it and I would pay off all my parent´s debts. Furthermore, I would destine another part of the money to investments or I´d try to establish a business to gain more money and live without any worry, but that wouldn´t be the most important part of my expense.
Personally speaking, I think travelling is the best way of spending money. I see travelling as an only opportunity of increasing my culture and my life experiences, so I would love to spend my money on travelling all around the world, visiting all the places that I wanted and knowing the culture of each place. And finally, the part of the money that I don´t spend on travelling, I would save it.

The purpose of Education.

Education, the most important structure in our society, has never been appreciated like it deserves. Currently there has been a transformation on people's opinion and thoughts about education. Despite this fact, education is a controversial topic since in our country politicians don't give it the importance that it really has. Education should be given the importance that it has as one of the pillars for the development of our society.

Trough history, education has never been thought as important or necessary for everyone. At first, it was only for rich people, including only boys while girls where excluded. Afterwards, girls started to learn but only the things that “were concerned” to their gender such as languages and some basic Mathematics. In the mid 1900s many boys and girls of middle class where already able to study but in schools that separate them for gender and only until 14/15 years old. 

The change in education didn't happen until about 40 years ago, when it was established as free and compulsory for all children from 3 to 16 years. However, these days education hasn't improved as expected; many students don't have any motivation for studying and the marks and results are getting worse and worse. Spain is at the end of the list of education results in Europe and this is due to the useless current educational system. 

Our educational system consists of valuating the knowledge and the learning of the students by marks, so that students don't really learn, they just memorize information in a short-term and forget it after the exam. Students need to learn, but need to love what they are learning, need to study, but without the pressure of exams coming, need to know maths and science but need to be able to speak in public and above all, they need to be creative and imaginative.

To summarize, despite education has evolved since last century, the adequate purpose of making students learn hasn't been fixed yet. The purpose of any educative system in the world should be make students learn in a creative way and be able to become better human beings, not only improving the economy or being good workers that are able to follow boss' instructions.

My family: the most important thing I have.

In my family we are 5: my father, my mother, my two sisters, my brother and me.
To be honest, I think I´m not able to say that I look exactly like a member of my family or that I have the character of one of them, because I think I am a mixture of my parents.

Regarding my physical appearance, everybody says that I bear a striking resemblance to my mother; I have a tanned skin as her, our eyes are both green and our smile is very similar. Despite the first thought of everyone when they see us is that I´m just like my mother, there are many of my physical features that I share with my father, such as the upturned nose, the bushy eyebrows, the ears and specially the mouth with thick lips.

With regard to my character, I´m a completely mixture of my parents. I have a very strong character, a feature that runs in all my family, specially in my mother. As her, I also have a good sense of humour and an outgoing personality. However, my father, has a more difficult character and he is more introverted, but he possess many qualities such as his razor-sharp mind. He is a highly intelligent and educated person and has always instilled me his passion for reading and learning. 

Despite they had set high standars for me, I have always feel a strong family support from my parents and I really admire and love them. Nevertheless, there is a person in my family that I specially admire and want to follow her steps, I´m talking about my eldest sister Patricia. She is 35 years old and she is a very independent and self-confident person. When she finished high school, she studied Spanish Philology at University and she´s now a great Spanish teacher that works and lives in Sevilla. In fact, we are very similar to each other, since we share our passion for languages, reading and travelling. Despite we don´t really look like each other physically, we both are clumsy, forgetful, sociable and talkative. Although I love and admire her, I don´t want to look on her as a model because I want to make my own way.




<- Patricia and me 13 years ago

Space Debris.

I. Mysterious space rubbish has appeared in Murcia recently. However, this isn't a single case, space is becoming a landfill.

II. Possible origins of the orb.
A. It may be part of a space station.
B. It may be a pressurised gas container that has fallen from outer space.
C. It may come from a rocket or satellite.

III. Object's features
A. It is made of a strong material that has survived to hard conditions.
B. It is similar to objects found in Brazil and Australia.
C. It is not dangerously radioactive or explosive.

IV. The black ball found in Murcia isn't radioactive or dangerous, it's just part of the space debris that is ocsupying outer space.

Technology: pros and cons.

New technologies are experiencing very big changes due to a fast development, mainly in the last decade. At first, mobile phones, cameras and computers were heavy and not easy to carry; therefore, they were only used by professionals and people who could afford their high prices. However, these electronic gadgets have improved a lot and now almost everyone has a digital camera phone, which is a great key breakthrough which allows people to take pictures and comunicate with family or friends. The same thing happens with laptops, which are much more useful than old computers.

On the one hand, this development has many pros such as the facilities that online shopping offers and the opportuniy of being connected to the Internet and being able to access a website, information or e-mails. In addition, the new gadgets and social networks allow everybody, especially young people, to stay tuned to all their friends.

On the other hand, some teenagers and young people abuse new technologies and have a social network addiction. They are all the time completely absorved looking at their mobile phone´s screen and Facebook stalking. Nowadays, everyone stalks from the others and know everything about them: who are their close friends, boy or girlfriend, family, what they have done, where they have been... Furthermore, many teenagers are bullied online due to the chance that Internet offers of remain anonimously or create a fake profile.

All in all, Internet and the new technologies have many positive facts and have helped society to grow and develop faster. Despite this facts, electronic gadgets have had a very negative influence in our society and have transformed the new generation into techno-lovers.

Outline: myself.

I. Generally, talking about ourselves is one of the most difficult topics for almost everybody. However, there are three main points that must be included in my description: physical appearence, personality and the things I like the most.
II. My physical appearence.
A. Hazel long straight hair.
B. Almond-shaped light brown eyes.
C. Long and curved eyelashes.
D. Uptourned nose. 
E. Thick lips.
F. Bushy eyebrows.
G. 1,68 metres in height.
H. Pierced ears.
I. No tattos.

III. My character.
A. Positive features.
1. Outgoing personality.
2. Good sense of humour.
3. Positive person.
4. Good at listening and helping the others.
B. Negative features.
1. Undecisive person.
2. A bit bossy.
3. Oversensitive person.
4. Very strong character.

IV. The things I like the most.
A. Football, specially Real Madrid.
B. Playing or listening to music.
C. Dancing.
D. Animals, specially dogs.
E. Fashion and shopping. 

V. To sum up, despite talking about myself isn't my favourite topic, I think it could have helped me to know myself better and to appreciate myself more.

HALLOWEEN.

Yesterday, October 31st, was the day of Halloween. It has always been a very special day for all the Anglo-Saxon countries such as UK, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand; However, nowadays, it has become a tradition for many people in Western European countries, thus it is celebrated in Spain too, and it is a holiday that I particularly like.

Halloween is an ancient costum that could be traced back to 2000 years ago. There are many theories about its origin: its said that its connected to All Saints Day, a holiday created by Christians to try to convert pagans; another theory says that it could come from Roman feast of Pomona. Nevertheless, the most supported theory is the one that relates Halloween to Samhain, a Celtic feast which celebrated the end of summer and the beginning of a new year in the Celtic calendar. Celtics believed that this night the line between the world of the livings and the world of the deaths was thinner than another night of the year so that a death can enter a living body and take control of it. For this reason, people started wearing scary costumes and maks to scare the spirits that wandered along the streets.

Regarding the origins of the name, it was called All Hallows Eve, and it came from Samhain that means 'end of summer' in Old Irish. With regard to costums and activies that are done in Halloween I have to emphasize: trick or treating, decorating homes, wearing costumes, carving Jack O'Lanterns, bonfires, visiting haunted houses, committing pranks and telling ghost stories.

Man on the edge.

This film is about a man who is going to commit suicide by jumping out of a hotel's window due to he has a lot of problems. First of all, he has discovered that his wife is being unfaithful and she's going to leave him. Furthermore, he´s having problems at work too. Despite many policemans try to make him listen to reason and not to jump from the cornice he don't want to listen to them; he just want to finish with his life, and in this way, with all his problems. However, when he was just about to jump, he suddenly looked inside the window and surprinsingly he saw a woman, a very beautiful woman, that was really familiar to him. When he realized that she was his teenage love, his first love... it was too late; he had already jumped out of the ledge. The woman shouted desesperately thinking he was dead, but she was wrong; he was still alive, in the last moment he found hope when he looked at her and he fought against his bad thoughts. It may sound weird, he is alive but he jumped out of the cornice? He simply held on to a cornice when he was falling and shouted for help. Quickly the woman and the policemans where at the cornice rescuing him from death. He had escaped from hell.

Problem-solution paragraph

Nowadays, racism is one of the biggest problems in our current society, but this isn't a problem only of these days; it has been a problem through all our contemporary history. There are plenty of examples of racism, as the discrimination of black people in America last century, the nazism in Germany, the problems in Spain with African people... All in all, these examples come from different countries but all of them are exactly the same: discriminate people with only keeping in mind their race, their skin colour or the social class.

An answer to this problem could be making people aware since their childhood that racist attitudes are wrong and they can't be accepted in a modern society like ours. All people must be tolerant and respect each other without having in mind their skin colour, their race or the countries they come from. Another solution could be punishing people that post racist comments in social sites or websites and don't ever let that people log again in that sites.

From my point of view, the measures suggested by María F. Espinosa Gómez could be a useful way to stop racism and achieve the goal of building a better world of equality. However, I think we should concenciate all the people about the racism's consequences and try to renovate some society's values.

Comparison/contrast paragraph

The British band Sex Pistols and the Russian musician Rostropóvich look very different, as they only seem to have in common their profession: both are musicians.
On the one hand, Sex Pistols was a punk rock band specially famous in the 1970s by their provoking attitude and look. They always used to scandalize wherever they go and whatever they do, also due to their satirical lyrics and their drugs adiction. Furthermore, one of their members, Vicious, died of a heroin overdose. On the other hand, Rostropóvich is considered as the best cellist of his generation, he was a very kind and formal person, and his musical style was so different from Sex Pistols' one, he played classical music. In addition, also his look and his style is more formal and classic. The only scandal Rostropóvich starred in his life was his exile due to his defense of freedom.
To summarize, Sex Pistols and Rostropóvich are very different kind of musicians only joined by their love towards music.

Opinion paragraph: bullfighting, the shame of Spain.

Today's post is going to be about the topic "bullfighting".
My position regarding this costum, that some people consider "art", is totally against it. I´m not able to understand why people like it, why they don't think it is absolutely rude and disgusting. I can't find anything positive or amusing in watching a man that is paid a lot of money and laureate as a hero for torturing a poor bull until its death.
Many people, who defend bullfighting, says that it is an antique costume and a way of art that represents Spain all over the world. But being realistics, bullfighting can't be considered art; we can find art in a painting, in a sculpture, in a movie, in a picture or in a building but not in the torture of an animal that isn't able to choose its destiny. Another usual argument that is used by bullfighting lovers is that bulls are raised just for bullfighting, pointing out that bulls need bullfighting to exist and that thanks to it they aren't extinct.
For all these reasons and to sum up, as far as I am concerned, innocent animals like bulls don´t deserve a life marked by the destiny of being tortured and killed until death just for the amusement of a bunch of insensitive people. I don't support the idea that says this "sport" represents our country, our costumes or our way of life, and I really don't want to be associated with it.

(Frightened tourists during a bullfight)

Game of Thrones

Hi everyone!
This week's post is going to be about one of my favourite TV series at the moment and probably the best I've ever seen.
I'm obviously speaking about "Game of Thrones", this series is just amazing. I saw it last summer due to all my friends are in love with it and they insisted I had to watch it. So finally I followed their advice and started watching it. When I had only seen a couple of episodes I started to love it more and more each time. This series is like a drug, I always needed more, and this is because from the first episode until the last one all the tension is kept, the argument becomes more interesting each episode and the happenings always impress me.

The main argument is about the disputes that are taking place in Westeros' continent for access the Iron Throne by many nobility families. This families are Targaryen (they were the owners of the Iron Throne but they lost it and now there is only one of them alive, Daenerys), Lannister (they are the most powerful family in Westeros), Stark (they are the lords of Winterfell), Baratheon (after beating the Targaryen they became the current owners of the Iron Throne).

My favourite characters are Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen.

DESCRIBING SOMEONE: CRISTIANO RONALDO.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the most hard-working person I've ever known. When he was just 12 years old he had to move from Madeira (an island located in the Atlantic Ocean and the place where he was born) to Lisboa to play in the local football team. He had to go alone and sacrificed a lot to improve his skills and reach his dream of being a professional player. After reaching the main category in that team, he signed with Manchester United and finally his dream came true in 2008 when he won his first Golden Ball, and even more in 2009 when he signed with Real Madrid. So with all his hard work and sacrifice, at least he has reached his goal of being the best player in the world.

DESCRIBING A FEELING: GUERNICA BY PICASSO

Guernica was painted by Picasso as a desparate call for international help. He was trying to make European people be awared of the destruction and the pain that was causing Civil War in Spain, specially in Guernica, a city populated almost by women and child only, that was savagely bombed by the German planes.
The painting can be summary just in one word: pain. We can see that pain everywhere; in the mother that is holding the lifeless body of her son, in the person that is trapped in the flames and in all the misshapen bodies that are lying down everywhere.
Another recourse that is used by Picasso to exaggerate the sorrow is the bigger size of the characters in comparison with the architecture that lends atmosphere to the scene.

FEAR

Fear of feeling alone
Fear of making bad choices
Fear of loosing the people I love
Fear of not getting my goals even I keep trying
Fear of not being happy with what I do in the future
Fear of falling in love with the incorrect person
Fear of war and hate
Fear of being forgotten
Fear of not making my family feel proud of me
Fear of everything sometimes
Fear of nothing instead
Fear of not being succesful
Fear of fears
Fear of not being right in my decisions
Fear of the future
Fear of existing
Fear that I give up
Fear of myself
Fear of not being loved by the people I love
Fear this day will end and everything still the same
Fear of waking up to find that you have left me behind
Fear of not loving and fear of not being loved
Fear that I forget the person I really am
Fear of sexism
Fear illness
Fear of not feeling
I´ve said that.

Why did I choose English Studies?

The answer to this question is very simple: I have always loved English and my ability for learning languages is high.

Everything started when I was in the first year of primary, that was the first time I realized I was good at English, so I told my parents I really wanted to learn more English because the school level seemed easy to me.

Next year, I started going to an English academy with native teachers and thank to them I loved English more and more. The academy made me improve my English a lot, but after 8 years I had to leave it due to high school required me more time for studying each time.

After living the academy I continue studying English at school but I always missed the academy and learning English in a very different way from high school.
So when I was finishing Bachillerato, I was completely sure I wanted to study English at university. In fact, I always knew it .

What is the best way to brainstorm?

Although I wasn´t in class the last lesson, when this methods were explained and practised, I have thought about the question we have to answer in this essay.

First of all, I have to say that before I always used the freewriting when I had to write an essay but when I discovered the other ones I realized this method isn´t always the most adequate because it is more risky than the others due to it can make you go wrong if you aren´t inspired.

After thinking about freewriting and in conclusion, I realized that the best method is mapping because it allows you to make first a plan, a kind of "map" with a main topic and around it another subordinate topics that are surrounded by other secondary topics, so the ideas are in order of hierarchy and importance.