The future: now what?

Well, after this year with such hard work and such stressful exams I'm finally done. I already have finished batxillerat and nobody will be able to steal it from me. However I still have the leaving cert to come and I don't feel satisfied. I feel this year has been a waste of time. Not a full waste of time, because I have learnt a lot, and I have improved in those subjects I thought impossible. But I mean a waste of my studying so hard. At the begining of the course I wanted to do medicine and I worked so hard, so hard as I could and my marks were ridiculous. At the end my marks have improved but I haven't achieved my goal. Now I know I won't get into medicine even I have lots of 8s and other good marks. I feel like all this hard work has gone no where because I won't be able to do what I really wanted, what I really have fought for. Anyway, I'm sure someday I'll find a career I like or I'll get into medicine working harder in some other ways. Who knows what future is waiting for us. Now I have done what I had to, and that was fighting and working hard. If I didn't get it , maybe I'm not clever enough, or maybe it wasn't my thing to do. At least I have given it a try and I now know I have worked the hardest I could. That's the end of the blog, it's the end of batxillerat, and I should be happy but now I'm not. But I'm not angry with anybody I'm just kind of frustrated as many people from the class were today. Marks go lower or higher and they decide what we are going to become in the future. I just hope for all my classmates that the leaving cert goes well , and they, just as me, were sad of having worked so hard and haven't succeeded, I send them lots of hope and luck.

That's it, let's see what we'll become in 4 years or more!

FINAL REFLECTION

My English Competence in 2010



my best oral presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o0ShiN2NzU



Well, I actually don't think it is that good but it might be the best one. In this oral presentation I'm introducing some new information about renewable energies and I help my explanation with images. I think this one is kind of the best because I'm not nervous and I'm fluent. I also think the interview with the British people makes the presentation very rich. According to the time, it's between the correct and I'm using connectors very often.



my best written evidence:

http://martagrauu.blogspot.com/2010/05/hey-there-little-story-of-girl.html



If I had to chose my best written evidence it would be that one. It's not special full of connectors or rather with lots of difficult writing. I chose this one because I think I show a knowledge of English big enough. That writting is a story I invented and I actually like my story, because it's a sort of reflection of peoples attitude. But the reason because I chose that composition is for the puntuation, the adjectives, the conectors and the fluency that the composition shows. Maybe I do have other writtings that are better according to structure but I like that one the most.

FINAL REFLECTION

My english progress from 4th of ESO to now:





First of all, lets take a look to the comment on that link:

http://esk0rnacabras.blogspot.com/

Well, in this blog, as you can see I had just written one post using very simple language. Compared to the posts I have written this year, this one is very short and it has a huge lack of connectors. You can notice that my english isn't fluent as I just write short sentences.

Secondly, look at any post on my blog from this year. Well, now you can see that all the compositions I have done during this course do have connectors and a very good structure. In my compositions from 4th of ESO I didn't had any structure, I didn't use any connectors and I didn't use many adjectives either, so I kept on repeating the same words. This year, besides I have been abroad in Dublin, I have learnt a lot about connectors and structures. From now on if I have to write a text in english I won't forget connectors and structure. Either would I forget to use lots of vocabulary that we have learnt to make the composition nicer and more fluent.

Now, let's take a look to my second oral presentation (with the first one I had problems at uploading the video). It's on this link: http://martagrauu.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-03-15T03%3A34%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

Well, as we can see this year I have learnt how to do oral presentations and how to calm down. The first oral presentation of which I don't have a video on line, was about plastic surgery. For that oral exposition I got really nervous and I started talking very fast. I remember Frankie was worried because I was going to finish the exposition in 2 minuts due to the speed at which I was talking. During this course apart of learning connectors and structure, as I said before, I have gained a lot of confidence.

As we can see in the second oral exposition I don't talk so fast as I said I did in the first one.

In the second oral though I was moving all the time because of the nerves.

At last, if we take a look to the third oral presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o0ShiN2NzU

We can see that in this one I wasn't nervous. So at least after a few oral presentations I have succceeded at controlling my nerves! which was a huge challenge!

I actually don't see that huge development during this course but because I came from Dublin (where I learnt lots of English). I do see development in writing structures, and in my oral presentations. During the course I have learnt how to do a good oral presentation, with new information, connectors, correct grammar... and different types of writings: narrative, discussion, formal and informal letter, opinion essay ...

To conclude with, I would say that the hugest improvement has been from 4th of ESO until now, when I have reached a good level of English.

letter from Cameroon

Dear family,
I'm writing to you to tell you how my work in Africa is going.
Well, I have to say that I feel more stisfied than ever in my life. People value things a lot and they don't even know what selfishness is.
I love treating them and helping those poor people.They need more information of how to prevent some sickness so I'm doing some assamblies to teach them.
Though all the good things they have adults, more man, can be really narrow-minded. I think they need something else than money and medicines, they need education.
Well, I'm coming back for Christmas.
Take care!
Love, Maria.

LADY GAGA

The 11th of March, Lady Gaga took a plane from London to America. Like it is usual in her, she was wearing weird clothes. This time she was wearing black and yellow adhesive tape as trousers and some other clothes. When the plane landed she started feeling bad because the trousers were becoming thighter everytime. She nearly got a thrombosis ( which is when you get a thrombus, a blood clot, that is obstructing the flow of blood inside a blood vessel ). That was really dangerous but lucky for her nothing bad happened. She only had to put off all her clothes which actually ofended her because she was very proud of them.
On my point of view Lady Gaga has original clothes but I think she is going way too far with her weird clothes putting her health in danger. She’s already famous so she doesn’t need that much anymore. She actually said she would never dress normal, she loves dressing up nice and with heels. Personally, I think it’s much better going natural and being yourself than to wear two thousend kilos of make up. When you are natural you are showing yourself as you are, and I think that if anyone sleeps with Lady Gaga for once they would scare at the morning. The best thing to do is never hide yourself, just the minimums to be polite (if you are very direct and sincere) or be a bit meaner (if you are to generous), and physically, just at going out at nightime because everybody does and if you don’t you won’t be allowed to get in in any place. Maybe what happens to Lady Gaga is that she doesn’t like herself and that’s why she is wearing all that stuff to hide her body and mask her face.

AEROSMITH - I DON'T WANNA MISS A THING

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Podria quedar-me despert tan sols per sentir-te respirar
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
Mirar el teu somriure mentres tu dorms
While you're far away dreaming
Mentres tu estàs somiant lluny
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
Jo podria passar la meva vida en aquesta dolçor
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Podria estar perdut en aquest moment per sempre
Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure
Cada moment passat amb tu és un moment que jo valoro (com un tresor)
Don't want to close my eyes
No vull tancar els meus ulls
I don't want to fall asleep
No em vull adormir
Cause I'd miss you baby
Perquè et trobaria a faltar ‘nena’
And I don't want to miss a thing
I no em vull perdre res
Cause even when I dream of you
Perquè fins i tot quan somio amb tu
The sweetest dream will never do
El somni més dolç no faria prou
I'd still miss you baby
Encara et trobaria a faltar ‘nena’
And I don't want to miss a thing
I no em vull perdre res
Lying close to you feeling your heart beating
Estirat al teu costat sentint el teu cor bategant
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
I em pregunto que deus estar somiant
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Em pregunto si és a mi a qui veus
Then I kiss your eyes
Llavors et faig un petó als ulls
And thank God we're together
I dono gràcies a Déu per estar junts
I just want to stay with you in this moment forever
Només vull estar per sempre en aquest moment amb tu
Forever and ever
Per sempre i sempre més
Don't want to close my eyes
No vull tancar els meus ulls
I don't want to fall asleep
No em vull adormir
Cause I'd miss you baby
Perquè et trobaria a faltar ‘nena’
And I don't want to miss a thing
I no em vull perdre res
Cause even when I dream of you
Perquè fins i tot quan somio amb tu
The sweetest dream will never do
El somni més dolç no faria prou
I'd still miss you baby
Encara et trobaria a faltar ‘nena’
And I don't want to miss a thing
I no em vull perdre res
I don't want to miss one smile
No em vull perdre un somriure
I don't want to miss one kiss
No em vull perdre un petó
I just want to be with you
Només vull estar amb tu
Right here with you, just like this
Aquí mateix amb tu, igual que ara
I just want to hold you close
Només vull mantenir-te aprop
Feel your heart so close to mine
Sentir el teu cor tan aprop del meu
And just stay here in this moment
Tan sols estar en aquest moment
For all the rest of time
Per tota la resta dels temps
Don't want to close my eyes
No vull tancar els meus ulls
I don't want to fall asleep
No em vull adormir
Cause I'd miss you baby
Perquè et trobaria a faltar ‘nena’
And I don't want to miss a thing
I no em vull perdre res
Cause even when I dream of you
Perquè fins i tot quan somio amb tu
The sweetest dream will never do
El somni més dolç no faria prou
I'd still miss you baby
Encara et trobaria a faltar ‘nena’
And I don't want to miss a thing
I no em vull perdre res
Don't want to close my eyes
No vull tancar els meus ulls
I don't want to fall asleep
No em vull adormir
I don't want to miss a thing
No em vull perdre res

BARRAQUES

If you go anywhere out of Spain they won’t even know what this is about. Well Barraques are concerts with lots of little houses which are bars surrounding the concert place. Every city has barraques and fairs. Here, in Spain they are so famous that if there are barraques in other cities lots of people take the car and go there. From my point of view barraques are one of the best parties, concerts we have in the whole year. That’s because everybody likes barraques and there’s no one not going to. Even if you don’t like the groups that are playing you go because of the people. In barraques you can meet anyone, and it’s nice to see all those people you know from other villages. This year in barraques of Figueres are coming two nice groups: Los Delincuentes and Brams. Barraques will be in two weeks time so we better do our homework and study everyday or we won’t be able to go there and have fun!

BOB DYLAN'S CONCERT DENIED IN CHINA!

Bob Dylan ( a great singer) has cancelled his tour in Asia because China doesn’t let him sing in Pekín nor Shanghai and so it is not worth to go for just the South of Corea, Taiwan and Japan. The representer of the concerts of Bob Dylan, Jeffrey Wu, said that this is because of the defense of Dylan of Human Rights.
Apart of Bob Dylan some other artists haven’t been welcomed in China, such as Oasis, Jay-Z and Linkin Park.From my point of view I think this is ridiculous. A government shouldn’t say who is allowed to come or not, they are nobody to say whom you can listen to and whom you can not. And anyway a singer like Bob Dylan is not going to kill anybody or any weird thing as Marylin Manson would. I think that some things are escaping from peoples hands, and they are getting to far. If the government of China doesn’t want to contribute with all the recycle thing and with creating less pollution it is them not wanting it, but people can talk and defend themselves, defend their own Rights and that is something that they are not going to silent with not allowing a singer come to do a concert. Most of the people know what’s good and what’s not good for us and our enviorment and I think they are making a huge mistake. Anyway, referring to the concert, I think it’s something that makes nonsense. Due to, the ones that like Dylan or rather Oasis etc, will still listen to them it won’t make any change if they come or not. And anyway some people just enjoy the singer not the lyrics. And the ones that defend Human Rights it’s not because Bob Dylan does. It’s just sad that the people that like Dylan won’t see him in concert because the government said so. Too sad.

GREAT CONCERTS SOON!

Bob Dylan is coming in Barcelona the 24th of June. Dylan is a great singer who always plays the guitar while singing and also plays an harmonica. He sings to defend our Human Rights and to defend the world itself. He has a really good voice but his songs are a bit difficult to understand at the beginning. One of his better songs: like a rolling stone.

Aerosmith is also coming in Barcelona the 27th of June. Aerosmith is a hard rock band from the United States. It’s actually an old band already because it has been active since the 1970s. One of their nicest songs: I don’t wanna miss a thing.

CADAQUÉS!

Cadaqués is a town in the Alt Empordà comarca, in Girona province, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in a bay near the Cap de Creus peninsula on the Costa Brava of the mediterranean sea.
The village is known as a very good fishing place and it has got a very interesting submarine life! (hey Robin nice fishes there!lol)
In the 20th century lots of people from Cadaqués emigrated to Cuba and when those people, immigrants, retourned to Cadaqués they built large and ornate houses. You can see this in Cadaqués because some places have names like: El Havano.
The people that came back from Cuba were named ‘americano’ and so they refered to them.
The language spoken in Cadaqués is cadaquesenc which is just a dialect of Catalan. They have some words different from the ‘standard catalan’. For instance, the word ‘rastell’ which is a street formed with pieces of slate stone placed in vertical position. Actually, the rastells are very typical of Cadaqués, because all the streets are really narrow and it’s very difficult to drive through without grating your car. The slate stones make walking with sandless very uncomfortable but anyway it’s very nice to see. An other word like ‘llagut’ is used in Cadaqués and means: small boat.
Nowadays Cadaqués is very visited by tourists. In 2002 Cadaqués had a population of 2,612 but up to ten times as many people can live in the town during the peak of the Summer tourism season. That’s true because in Easter when I went there it was full of foreign people.
It had and has lots of notable visitors and residents such as: Picasso, Miró, Walt Disney, Dalí, Frederico García Lorca, Pau Casals and Marta Grau.
Only joking!;)

EASTER HOLIDAYS!

Easter holidays are nicer than christmas from my point of view. That’s because in Easter holidays temperatures starts rising , flowers start flowering, you can leave your jacket at home and well, in conclusion it is Spring and so we are closer to Summer. These Easter holidays haven’t been that nice for me because I got sick. The first weekend of the holidays we went to Cadaqués with my boyfriend to spend the weekend. As everybody in the Empordà knows Cadaqués is gorgeous. We had a lovely night walking through Cadaqués’s streets and watching movies all night long. Until at 10 am when I got sick. That ruined the weekend and so we left on Saturday. Back at home everybody went out (as they usually do on Saturday night) but me. On Sunday I was OK again which I liked and I didn’t because I thought ‘why should a sickness mess up my weekend for just one day?’
Well, the rest of the Easter holidays was okey, I met lots of friends I hadn’t seen in ages and that was really cool. On Easter there were also very important football matches such as Arsenal-Barcelona (2-2) ‘champions league’ and Barcelona-Bilbao (4-1) ‘league’. Most of the holidays I had to go driving because I have the driving exam next week and so I needed loads of practice. Besides the good things I had to revise biology of 5th year for an admition test in university, and I also had to do lots of homework for school. Francesc helped me with some chemistry of last year which was nice because it isn’t an easy subject at all.
Thursday I went out with my best friend which I don’t see that much anymore because everybody studies in different places. Saturday I went out again but went back home early because obviously Sunday is an international homework day. This Monday has been a cool Monday, which is weird to associate the word cool with a Monday!
Apart of this, after this holidays everybody knows that the six worst weeks of batxillerat are coming and we must work very hard to be able to chose what we want to become in this further life!

Discussion Essay ( Human Rights )

Should Human Rights be enforced by law or optional?

First of all I’m going to answer the question if Human Rights should be enforced by law or be optional and then I’ll justify my answer.

Firstly, from my point of view, Human Rights should be optional, people should respect them because it’s good for all of us. It’s one of those things that benefits everybody and not only a few people. It’s better for us and we’d win things such as respect. In my opinion people should know and respect them with no need of any law. But the thing is that nowadays nobody respects anything and there are lots of selfish people that just think of their own advantages.

Secondly, I think that Human Rights must be enforced by law so people would respect them. So, if we want people to respect Human Rights, we’ll need to force them by law because people won’t obey/respect them until it gets to that point. It’s very sad though that such a thing as Human Rights that benefits us isn’t respected by people.

Thirdly, I think the problem might be that nowadays people in general just think of money and stuff like that, so if it doesn’t get to law they won’t care to listen, they won’t give a damn to waste time listening to weird stuff for them. So if it gets to law, they would listen and think twice to respect them. Besides another problem may be that people don’t even know their Rights, so that means there’s a lack of information of what refers to them.
To conclude with I think we should be more informed about Human Rights and know them better because they are our Rights since the minute we are born, but nobody talks of them, people just care about political things, and this is important too. People have to listen and see what Human Rights are and then they will see it’s better for everyone and maybe so they will be applied to everyone. If information doesn’t succeed at people respecting them they should be definetly forced by law.

My New Year Resolutions

First of all I have to study, so my most important resolution includes study, study and more study. And I so hope to get good marks! Because our marks this year are very important to decide our future!

Secondly, I want to relax and eat more. Obviously I’m proposing myself to be less nervous, take things easier and not be as anxious as I was last term.

Thirdly, well I don’t actually have a third resolution, but I supose it’s what I always wish: to be healthy, but not just me, my friends and family too.

Human rights

HUMAN RIGHTS

o. Take the Quiz

I didn’t do very well on the quiz, because I didn’t know my rights. I knew what rights were but not the history of them.

1.What are human rights?

Human rights are the rights you have simply because you are human. Rights are things to which you are entitled or allowed; the way you deserve to be treated.

2.When did human rights start?

Human rights started in 1948. But they started before, after the French revolution.

3. Why were they created?

Human rights were created because people deserved to have minimum rights.

4. How many human rights are there?

There are thirty human rights.

5. Which human right were you not familiar with?

With the article 9:

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

6. Choose one human right and discuss:

Article 4:

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Nowadays I think this article is more or less respected in Spain. Though still not respected in other countries. Like in Africa, we could consider the women that are married as slaves, because they aren’t allowed to do anything, they are forced to stay at home and do the cleaning and cooking. An other example would be the old Greece, where slaves could buy their freedom.

Years ago ago this right wasn’t respected by anyone, rich people were always on the top of poor people because they thought were better. They took advantage from their social position and treated the poor people the way they wanted, it got further till the point in which they ordered them to do things and finally they became slaves. Also back in time we could find some examples of slavery in factories, when children and women were forced to work even if they were sick.

7. Are Humans rights relevant in the world today? why?

In my opinion human rights are relevant in the world today. As I have said before, in some countries slavery still exists. So we really need those basic rights to have a minimum of order in our society, to keep away the uncivilized. Without those rights our society would be very different, with less respect.

To conclude with I think human rights are very important and they should be taken more seriously than they are, not in Spain but in other countries.

Wish you were here.

Wish you were here - Pink Floyd

Wish you were here became one of my favourites songs during my stage in Dublin. I love the way this group plays guitar. The notes that sound, just at the beginning of the song, are so amazing! Always love to listen to it. Then it's me wishing to learn how to play this song in the middle of the beach with my inexistent red electric guitar.
I used to listen to this song on my own, with my ipod. I think it's after this song that I got more interest in Pink Floyd. Actually I don't listen very much of Pink Floyd, just a few songs that got my atention, like Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
The song is about somebody that misses someone, someone who's very nice. Well actually I think it's a very open theme, because everyone can interpret the song in a different way. Personally I got it like someone who is missing somebody, someone who knows how to do things good, that turn your bad days into good days, somebody special that you would miss...
So I supose that's the reason because it got so much into me, because I was missing someone as well :P but I wasn't as upset as the man singing makes me feel he is.
Anyway, I hope more people get to know this song if they didn't, and enjoy it like I do ;-)

Cheers =)