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.