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. 

INFORMAL LETTER

12 Devonshire Street

17486, London

9th May, 2017

Complejo de la Moncloa

Avda. Puerta de Hierro s/n

28071 Madrid

Spain

Dear Mr. President Rajoy, 

I am writing to express my concern regarding the weath distribution that is being carried out in the Spanish government. 

I would like to point out that, in my own opinion, lots of millions of euros are being allocated to the army and useless infraestructures.

I think that lots of other aspects should be taken into consideration: almost 20% of the Spanish population is unemployed, hundreds of families have been, and still are, foreclosed, university taxes are one of the most expensive of Europe and so on.

I would like you to know, with my more truthful respect, that the wealth distribution needs to take another route and you should assume the responsibility to reduce the difference between weath and poverty. 

I strongly urge you to take my request into account and you lay out policies and laws that help to improve social conditions, in order to built a new better society.

Your sincerely,  

Aina Vesa Martínez.

YOURSAY

LAST DAYS...

We are almost finishing our last year in the highschool what it means that we are not going to be all together in the same class like we have been being during this years. 

We are really exited to start a new road and we are all wanting to go at university because we know we are going to be a little bit more independent: we will have our own flat (not all of us, but the majority of us), we will have to be responsible in the decisions we take from then to forward, we will have to learn how to distribute our money, etc. 

But in some way, it's too sad to say goodbye to those who have been with you, in class, helping you with homework, complaining about the same to the teachers, celebrating eighteen's parties, laughing, and so on. 

It is usually to say that we can meet again and the contact won't be lost, but apart of that it's really complicated to meet all together, it won't be the same.

So now, while I'm writing about my last post, I would like to say that even it has been a long and a difficult road, we see the end and it's important to know that your colleagues can see them too, becuase it means they have achieved to end up their own road and they have overcome this period by your side. We all know how we all feel nowadays, how tired we are, how much we want to leave the highschool, and how much we want to enjoy the summer, because we are all walking to the same direction and we are passing through the same obstacles. 

Finally I just want to say thank you to all the people who has been part of my road and who has help me to finish it. 

YOURSAY

POLITICAL SYSTEM NEEDS A CHANGE

I've decided to write about spanish political system because I think it gives too much to talk about, especially questions and contradictions that must be solve. 

As I wrote in my formal letter, I think that kits if millions of euros are being intended to army and I would beg to the government to reassess and reorganize the general budget of the state. 

First of all, the money should be distribuated in a different way, reducing the huge difference between wealth and poor people. Those who are unemployed should have the chance to attend to free training laboral sessions because if they stay at home, with nothing to do, they are not going to improve in any field and when they decide to find a job, the enterprises won't want them because of their non-knowledgment or experience.

Also, I would like to propose to those business men and women who have money enough to live in a very good conditions, as Amancio Ortega, to share their benefits with their workers and, the government should lay out some laws and policies to control the laboral conditions that are offered to the lowest workers of these companies. 

Finally I would like to focus on one point that must improve in spanish society and it is family reconciliation.

Women who have children have to stay at home when they give birth and they are not able to go to work. Even with this overload and the effort that it represents, their wages are significally reduced. 

After all, I've written about it just to show all the aspects we have to improve if we want to build a better society. 

YOURSAY

READING

I wasn't use to read, but because of my parents force me to read when I was young, now I love it and it is really easy form me. 

When I was young, my mother and my father told me stories before I went to sleep every night. If I remember correctly, the first book that has been read to me in my entire life was "The Little Red Riding Hood". When I grew up, I started to read book on my own: I read "Hansel and Gretel", "The three pigs", etc. 

When I was 5 years old, aproximately, I began to be drawn to books in general and I read all the collection of Geromino Stilton, all the comics of Asterix and Obelix, Tintín, , and so on which I can't even remember. 

Once I started primary education, we should all choose one book to read at home, but sometimes they make me bored and I didn't finish them. My mother loved that idea and because of we had to read in our summer holidays, my mum bought the trilogy of Narnia, some Carlos Ruiz Zafón books, among others. 

Nowadays, I love reading but just if the book hooked me. What I love of reading is that you can imagine all the spaces and the characters that are described in the different books and you can contribuate in the story you have between your hands. 

You can learn a lot from the characters you are reading about: their actitudes, their ways to act, etc. You can feel identify with some of them and you can realize, trough them, which are your weaknesses and the points you can improve from your way to be. 

With what it helps the most is of your maturity and your capacity to think and express your opinion. It is essencial to read because it helps you to face the reality and the problems you can find outside. 

YOURSAY

"SIMÓN, NO; SAIMON"

Child maltreatment is one of the literature topics. "Simón, no; Saimon" is the first novel of Jorge Gamero. It has about 190 pages in which is narrated an educative and a little bit dramatic story, typical feature in mistreatment. 

It is only necesary to see the cover image, made by Getty Images, to know that this story will be about a student that seems to be brash student but because of the non atention and support of his family. Thanks to the love and the dedication given by Ángel, the teacher who pays the consequences of Simon's default, and César, the mediator of conflicts, they manage to help the student and they achieve that his parents show more interest in his son education than months ago. 

One of the expressions that I would like to highlight is "Just those who can improve are those who have fail one day".

What I can deduce from it is that everybody fails and it is natural from human nature. At the same time, those who has learn from the fails, those who has learn to grow and overcome their problems are those who has improve what they have done one day. 

I think it is really important to recognize your own mistakes and then try to solve it by the best possible way. You should be mature enough to solve problems and even to ask for help if it's a hard challenge to face with. 

Use our rational part; this is what makes the difference between human and other kind of beings. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAaRWW27Dv4 (Jorge Gamero words)

YOURSAY

LONDON TRIP

From 4th to 8th of April, we went to London with the school and we spent a great time with friends.

Apart from being a cultural and educative trip, it was kind of farewell because the next year we will be following different roads (like university, training cycles, working, etc.)

What I thought when i was in London, when we fisrt arrived in fact, was that it seems like an industrial revolution city: the buildings were made of brick and they were like dirty by smoke, the houses were typical from XIX, and bars were so traditional also.

However, the main places like Big Ben, Picadilly Square, cathedreals, and so on, have been refomed and they are more cleaned and easy on the eyes.

About how the trip has set in motion, I could say that it has a brilliant experience and I have no hesitation in recomended it to those who never have been there. I think it is a "must" place and we should all visit it. And, if you have the chance to share the experience with your friends, you will enjoy it and spend a great time.