FINAL REFLECTION

DIFFERENCES AND PROGRESS

Now I’m writing my last two posts, I’m going to try to do it the best possible I can because if I have to compare it with the first one I did when I was at 4th of ESO, I have to make the difference and the progress remarkable. 

My first writing (which you can find by clicking this link http://ainaenglishblog.blogspot.com.es/2014/10/my-dream.html) was about my dreams and I can asure that I did it as better as I could and I remember searching words in the dictionary in order to make it more worship. However, when I’ve read it again, I’ve seen that there’s no words that make it mature and the vocabulary is quite plane. The structures tend to be simple and short. 

If I compare it with the most recent one, which is the one I’m writing right now, I can say that words come to my mind easily and there’s no need to be constantly checking the dictionary, and I think I’m using a lot of new word which I have learn in this two years. The syntax is more complex and I use lots of different verbal tense that we have been looking through in batxillerat. What I can remark the most, is the use of phrasal verbs which has increased considerably and it always make the writing and the speaking sound more fluently. 

If I had to talk about my oral presentations, I have no hesitation in saying that I have gained confidence in myself and my voice and body reflects it perfectly. What I think it has helped me the most is the preparation I did days before the official TDRs oral presentation. I presented it to my family and my friends and they were correcting me and advising me about what I could do and what I had to avoid to do: like moving a lot, let nervous take me over, etc. 

In the first one oral presentation (which you can find by clicking this link http://ainavesamartinez.blogspot.com.es/2015/11/self-evaluation-of-our-oral-presentation.html) it is obvious that I’m really nervous and the vocabulary and the structures we use are simple and they aren’t too much inovative and complex. 

Comparing it with the last one (which you can find by clicking this link http://ainawanderlust.blogspot.com.es/2016/12/presentation-10-you-use-any-resources.html) the words I use are more refined look and I try to use the vocabulary I’ve learn in second batxillerat. I also try to avoid grammatical mistakes and I think that I did a good job but where I can spot the big difference is when my sentences become longer and complex, where it’s easier to commit a mistake. 

MY ENGLISH COMPETENCE 2017

If I had to choose my ‘favourite’ or my best oral presentation I think I would choose the one I did with Marta about Instagram and social networks and how they affect society nowadays. It’s a pity because we couldn’t post it and now we can not link it, but I suppose that Lourdes can remember it. Marta and I were talking about how we all want to have the lives that appear in Instagram and how it makes us feel uncomfortable or empty. We prepared it a lot and we were practising it for a few days, maybe because we were interested in the topic. 

I think it was my best oral presentation because we gave examples and we asked for the collaboration of the rest of the class. They answered the questions we asked them and they realize that what we were saying was exactly what they feel when they are at home connected in the social networks. 

Apart from it, we also try to find fitting and new words to make it more mature and to make it sound ‘more english’. 

Now, if I had to choose my best written post, I would say that is the one that talks abou ‘White Helmets” (http://ainawanderlust.blogspot.com.es/2017/03/news_12.html). 

I think I really enjoy it and I just let my mind fly away. I was really inspired and my words came to my mind like if english was my first language. I used expressions like ‘cry for fewer people’ that make it sound more english. I wrote long sentences and complex ones.

After all, now we have finished batxillerat, I would like to make a fast view through this last year and I would like to say that my english has definitely improve, my vocabulary is richer and my oral expression is more fluently. 

What I think it has helped me the most is watching television in english. When they first told me I wasn’t used to watch it in a different language, but when I first decided I should change my habits, I finally got to watch one episode of Grey’s anatomy in english. From that moment, I have been listening lots of films, series and songs in english so it’s easier for me to understand the listening we do at english class.

One thing I would like to propose to the high school is to teach the students more phrasal verbs and expressions because they are what english people really use and sometimes, when you are taught in some way and then you hear people talking and using expressions you didn’t hear before, it become more difficult to understand. 

Finally, I would like to thank you, Lourdes, for helping me to improve my english and taking me into account. It has been great to spend my last year of batxillerat with a teacher who puts all her efforts in their students.