Final evaluation

Observing my portfolio I notice a great inmprovement of my level of English since September 2008. There's an evidence of this improvement almost everywhere, but specially in the writings and in the observation of our oral presentations.
I think that the activities that best shows my level of English are the writings. When you read any comopstition such as an informal letter or an opinion essay, you realize you have included new words, expressions and phrasal verbs you hadn't heard of at the beggining of the course.
The most useful activities for me to improve my English have been the transcription and the observation of my oral presentations and listening to others' presentations. While writing down your transciptions, you realized what you did wrong and how would it be right. Moreover, doing the observation of my oral presentation was the best way for me to know what to change or improve in the next presentation. Finally, when looking to others' presentations you realized what they did wrong so what you souldn't do.
I really didn't find useful doing summaries of news. I think that we just wasted our time doing them 'cause it was just reducing a text or leave out some lines of the original text. At the most, we just learnt some vocabulary we needed to understand the news.
Finally, one of the activities I enjoyed doing it was watching films and afterwards doing a summary of it. It's a good way to learn English 'cause you have to understand what characters say and at the same time you have fun watching it. Furthermore, then you have to write a summary so you are working as well.

We have almost learnt to respect our world. Do you agree?

Nowadays nearly the whole world is concerned about the problems of our environment. There're lots of people working on reaching the way to stop or at least decrease them. Nevertheless, the solutions they find out are not taken into account for everyone.
I think that poeple could do much more to respect the world. The ozone depletion and the global warming are always increasing. There are many things you can do to stop it or not making it higher, nobody care, though. On the other hand, the deforestation is also rising every day and lots of woods areas are now golf resorts. So, do you still think that we are respecting our world?
Furthermore, because of these and other facts, lots of animal especies are becoming extinct. Not only because of changing them their natural environment, but for hunting their preys also.
In conclusion, I think that we should and we could respect much more our environment. There might be more information of all the things you could do to stop all these problems. However, I really don't care about people doing them at all.

(185 words)

Love Story - Taylor Swift

We were both young when I first saw you / El primer cop que et vaig veure tots dos erem petits
I close my eyes and the flashback starts / Tenco els meus ulls i el flaixback comença
I'm standing there / Estic allà dreta
On a balcony in summer air / En un balcó amb aire estiuenc

See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns / Veure els llums, veure la festa, els vestits
I see you make your way through the crowd / Veig com vas cap a la multitud
And say hello, little did I know / I dius hola, jo ja m'ho pensava

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles / Que tu eres en Romeo, i tu llançaves 'esperances'
And my daddy said 'stay away from Juliet' / I el meu pare et va dir 'aparta't de la Juliet'
And I was crying on the staircase / I jo estava plorant a les escales
Begging you please don't go, and I said / Suplicant-te que no te n'anessis, i jo vaig dir

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone / Romeo porta'm algun lloc on poguem estar sols
I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run / Jo estaré esperant-te, l'únic que podem de fer és córrer
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess/ Tu seràs el príncep i jo seré la princesa
It's a love story baby just say yes / És una història d'amor sisplau carinyo només digues sí

So I sneak out to the garden to see you / Jo surto al jardí d'amagat per veure't
We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew / Ens quedem en silenci perquè si ho sabéssin estariem morts
So close your eyes / Tenca els ulls
Escape this town for a little while / Escapem-nos d'aquesta ciutat per una estona

'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter / Perquè tu eres en Romeo, jo era una senyal
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet / I el meu pare et va dir 'aparta't de la Juliet'
But you were everything to me / Però tu ho eres tot per mi
I was begging you please don't go, and I said / I jo estava suplicant-te que no te n'anessis, i vaig dir

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone / Romeo porta'm algun lloc on poguem estar sols
I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run / Jo estaré esperant-te, l'únic que podem de fer és córrer
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess/ Tu seràs el príncep i jo seré la princesa
It's a love story baby just say yes / És una història d'amor sisplau carinyo només digues sí

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel / Salva'm Romeo, ells intenten dir-me què he de sentir
This love is difficult, but it's real / Aquest amor és dificil, però és real
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess / No tinguis por, d'aquest merder ens en sortirem
It's a love story baby just say yes / És una història d'amor sisplau carinyo només digues sí
Oh oh

I got tired of waiting / Em vaig cansar d'esparar
Wondering if you were ever coming around / Preguntant-me si alguna vegada vindries
My faith in you was fading / La meva confiança en tu estava desapareixent
When I met you on the outskirts of town, and I said /Quan et vaig troabr a les afores de la ciutat, i vaig dir

Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone / Salva'm Romeo, m'he sentit molt sola
I keep waiting for you but you never come / Encara t'espero però tu mai véns
Is this in my head? I don't know what to think / És en els meus pensaments? No sé què pensar
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring / Es va agenollar al terra i va treure un anell

And said, marry me Juliet / i va dir 'casa't amb mi Juliet
You'll never have to be alone / Mai hauràs d'estar sola
I love you and that's all I really know / Jo t'estimo I això és el que realment sé
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress / Vaig parlar amb el teu pare, ves a comprar-te un vestit de núvia
It's a love story baby just say yes / És una història d'amor sisplau carinyo només digues sí

Oh, oh, oh, oh
'Cause we were both young when I first saw you... / I és que el primer cop que et vaig veure tots dos erem petits...

Oral presentation 3.

Transcription:

Well, I’m going to tell you about the climate change factors and well, do you have any idea of which are these factors? Well, yes, and other ones. The climate change is the result of a great many factors such as plate tectonics, solar output, volcanism, oceans variability and human influences.

Plate tectonics. Plate movements implicated the intensification of the present ice age when the North and South American plates collided to form the Isthmus of Panama and slit away the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In fact, in the distant future plate tectonics will reposition continents, form oceans and build and tear down mountains.

Then, the solar output. The sun is the most important source of heat energy input to the climate system. And its output energy, which is converted to heat in the Earth’s surface, is an integral part of the Earth’s climate. Then, lesser amounts of energy are provided by the gravitational pull of the moon and geothermal energy.

Then, volcanism. Volcanism is the process of transporting materials from the Earth’s interior to the surface as part of a process by which the planet removes the excess of pressure and heat in its interior. A single eruption can actually affect climate. For example, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in nineteen ninety-one affected substantially climate with global temperatures dropping by about zero point five degrees and ozone depletion being substantially increased.

Then, oceans variability. Many climate oscillations owe their existence at least in part to the different ways that heat can be kept in the oceans and the way it moves. Then… aah, one second. Oceans processes such as thermohaline circulations also play a key role in redistributing heat by carrying out a very slow and extremely deep movement of water, and a long-term redistribution of heat in the oceans.

Finally, and the most important factor for me, is the human influences. Human activity is probable the cause of rapid changes in world’s climate and environment in the past several decades. And one of most concern factors is the increase in carbon dioxide levels due to emissions from fossil fuels combustions, followed by aerosols and cement manufactures. Other factors including land use, animals’ agriculture and deforestation are also concern as affecting climate.

Well now Cèlia is going to tell you about the greenhouse effect.

Observation of my oral presentation:

Presentation:

As a resource, we used a power point and I think that it was really attractive and visual because we put on it lots of photos related on what we were talking so people could understand it better. However, I jus related it to what I was saying at the beginning and I might have referred to it more than I did.

Body language and eye contact:

I looked at the audience most of the time except for when I had to show something from the screen.

I had my notes on my hands and I didn’t look them excepting one time ‘cause I was quite nervous and I just forgot what was coming. Even though, I remembered immediately what I had to say.

I did lots of gestures with my hands, not exactly to hold the audience attention, just because I was quite nervous and I usually do it.

Structure:

I really didn’t structure the ideas in order of importance. I first did an introduction and after talked about the different climate factors, not in importance order, though.

I used some discourse markers to make it easier for the audience to situate, like then or finally. I think that I used quite a lot of times then, and maybe another discourse marker would have been better.

Content:

All the information I introduced to the audience was new and interesting because I think that the climate change is an important issue but people is not very concerned about it.

I looked up for information in the Internet (Wikipedia and other webs) because I wanted to explain more things than the ones I knew.

My information was original and quite detailed. I used some technical and scientific vocabulary related with the topic.

Language:

I checked my grammar at home, but sometimes it’s difficult to say it perfectly when you are there. However. I think that my grammar was good in the oral presentation excepting a sentence which I have corrected in the transcription.

I looked up the dictionary many times to use new words or synonyms (e.g.).

I didn’t use many linkers, just and (and maybe too many times!). I also used some fillers like well.

Pronunciation & Intonations:

I didn’t know how to pronounce all the words, and I checked them on an online dictionary of pronunciation (e.g. collided, combustion, thermohaline, redistribution…).

I think that my tone of voice didn’t change a lot from the beginning to the end of the presentation. However, I was more confident at the beginning and in the end than in the middle.

I speeded in a fluid continuum excepting once I had to look at my notes. I studied so I knew what I had to say and this caused more fluency in me, there are the nerves,though.

Self-evaluation:

If I were the teacher I would get between an 8 and an 8.5.

Here you've got the power point and the video of our oral presentation.

Climate change

View more presentations from julia8_29.

Montana pops to the top of film chart

Teenage popstar Miley Cyrus has achieved the top of the North American box office chart with Hannah Montana: The Movie.
The film took $34m over the weekend taking Fast&furious off the top. Miley had previoulsy sung her way to the top with a filmed concert, which took $31.1m on its first weekend.
Hannah Montana: The Movie is the latest show in the story of a girl who has an alter-ego as a singeing star.
"Her average opening weeken is around $30m" claimed the president of box office analysts Media By Numbers. While her opening weekend's rivals twice her age.

New vcabulary learnt:
chart-llista d'èxits
instalment-entrega
box office-taquilles

Brussels to probe seven airlines.

The European Comission has started anti-competition into seven transatlantic airlines. They has opened two different investigations. The first one into proposed additional cooperations between British Airlines, American Airlines and Iberia. The second one into existing and planned cooperation between Air Canada, Continental, Lufthansa and United.
BA complained saying the Comission didn't have any proof of any infringement. Nevertheless, the comission answered they wouldn't have started them unless they didin't have reasons to do it.
They investigate into transatlantic routes run by One World alliance with memebers of all those airlines excepting Continental one, however it is in talks to join the Star Alliance.

New vocabulary learnt:
proposed-propusat
launch-fundar

informal letter.

Dear Iris,
I received your letter yesterday. How's everything in Canterbury? Are you enjoying it and improving your English? Well, I hope you're having fun!
In Chester everything is going perfectly. My host family is very nice. There's a woman called Jane and her daughters who are twins. They're eighteen so we get on really well.
The town is so charming. In the venings we usually go to such a lovely park near the river which we found out the second day. I've done many good friends here. What about you? Are there many nice persons?
Yesterday was a strange day for me. Jess, one of my host sosters, was bringing me to the downtown when the car broke down suddenly. We had to call the crane and I finally arrived an hour late to the meeting. Then, luckily for me, I came across twenty pounds on the floor and later I received your letter so I was really happy!
When are you setting off from Canterbury? I'd like to meet you when we'll be both home.
Best wishes,

Júlia

Federer weds long-term girlfriend.

World number two Roger Fedrer (27) married his girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec in Basle. They met in 2000 at the Sydney's Olympic Games and they are expecting their first child.
He's going to take part of the Monte Carlo Masters next week after he was given a wildcard although he originally said he was not going to play. Federer has finished runner-up three times in Monte Carlo and he hasn't won a tournament since October.
The only member of the world's top 10 who won't be taking part of the championship is Andy Murray. Number one Rafael Nadal will try to win the tournament for the fifth time.

New vocabulary learnt:
'wildcard'-comodí
'runner-up'-subcampió

Wimbledon.

We couldn't see the whole movie, so I'm just going to summarize the part we saw.

Peter Colt is a British professional tennis player once ranked 11th of the world who is now ranked 119th. Peter is 31 and he has decided to retire after the last tournament, Wimbledon. He actually has already got a job as a coach at a club.
The championship begins so he goes to the hotel. The receptionist gives him the wrong key and he meets Lizzie Bradbury by chance in what was supposed to be his room. She is American and she seems to be a great promise in tennis; she's supposed to win Wimbledon. Peter finally gets another room. From a long time ago, he was used to lose most of matches, he starts to win after meeting Lizzie, though. Peter invites her to fish and chips in her room and they start falling in love. However, there's someone who deosn't like it, Lizzie's Father. He just wants her to focus on the game and not to get the head on Peter or any other thing.
One day, they are in a party when the paparazzies start taking photos on them so they decide to go away. They go to an apartment from Peter in his native town. They go running along the promenade, have a lot of fun and enjoy these days until Lizzie's father arrives and she has to come back London.

New vocabulary learnt:
promenade-passeig marítim
tournament-torneig

formal dialogue

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Winehouse to fan assault charge

Singer Amy Winehouse attended a police station on Thurday to be charged with assault after hit a fan at the End of Summer Ball in Berkeley Square (central London) last 26 September. She's going to attend City of Westsminster Magistrates' Court on next 17 March.
The singer's spokesman claimed that she attended voluntary to the police station and she was asked to testify in relation to the assault on last Berkeley ball. This event was celebrated in order to fundraise for the Prince's Trust charity.

New vocabulary learnt:
assault-agressió
charge-acusació
spokesman-portaveu
fundraise-recolecta de fondos

Broken strings-James Morrison ft. Nelly Furtado

Let me hold you for the last time / Deixa'm abraçar-te per última vegada
It's the last chance to feel again / És la última oportunitat de sentir un altre cop
But you broke me, now I can't feel anything / Però em vas fer mal, ara no sento res

When I love you and so untrue /Quan t'estimo i sembla que no és veritat
I can't even convince myself / No puc ni convençe'm a mi mateix
When I'm speaking it's the voice of someone else / Quan parlo és la veu d'algú altre

Oh, it tears me up / Oh, em trenca el cor
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much / Vaig intentar aguantar però fa massa mal
I tried to forgive but it's not enough / Vaig intentar perdonar però no n'hi ha prou
To make it all okay / Per fer-ho tot bé

You can't play our broken strings / No pots tocar les nostres "cordes" trencades
You can't feel anything / No pots sentir res
That your heart don't want to feel / Que el teu cor no vulgui sentir
I can't tell you something that ain't real / No puc dir-te res que no sigui veritat
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse / Oh, la veritat fa mal i les mentides encara són pitjor
How can I give anymore / Com puc donar algo més
When I love you a little less than before? / Quan t'estimo una mica menys que abans?

Oh, what are we doing? / Oh, què estem fent?
We are turning into dust/ Ens estem convertint en pols
Playing house in the ruins of us / Jugant-nos la nostra casa en ruïnes

Running back through the fire / Corrent altre cop cap al foc
When there's nothing left to say / Quan no hi ha res més a dir
It's like chasing the very last train / És com perseguir tots els últims trens
When it's too late, too late / Quan és massa tard, massa tard

Oh, it tears me up / Ob, em trenca el cor
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much / Vaig intentar aguantar però fa massa mal
I tried to forgive but it's not enough / Vaig intentar perdonar però no n'hi ha prou
To make it all okay / Per fer-ho tot bé

You can't play our broken strings / No pots tocar les nostres "cordes" trencades
You can't feel anything / No pots sentir res
That your heart don't want to feel / Que el teu cor no vulgui sentir
I can't tell you something that ain't real / No puc dir-te res que no sigui veritat
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse / Oh, la veritat fa mal i les mentides encara són pitjor
How can I give anymore / Com puc donar algo més
When I love you a little less than before? / Quan t'estimo una mica menys que abans?

But we're running through the fire / Però estem corrent pel foc
When there's nothing left to say / Quan no hi ha res més a dir
It's like chasing the very last train / És com perseguir tots els últims trens
When we both know it's too late, too late / Quan tots dos sabem que és massa tard, massa tard

You can't play our broken strings / No pots tocar les nostres "cordes" trencades
You can't feel anything / No pots sentir res
That your heart don't want to feel / Que el teu cor no vulgui sentir
I can't tell you something that ain't real / No puc dir-te res que no sigui veritat
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse / Oh, la veritat fa mal i les mentides encara són pitjor
How can I give anymore / Com puc donar algo més
When I love you a little less than before? / Quan t'estimo una mica menys que abans?
Oh, you know that I love you a little less than before / Oh, tu saps que t'estimo una mica menys que abans

Let me hold you for the last time / Deixa'm abraçar-te per última vegada
It's the last chance to feel again / És la última oportunitat de sentir un altre cop

FRANKENSTEIN: the film vs the book

I'm going to tell you some of the differences I saw between the book and the film. I'm afraid I won't be able to put them all in the perfect order 'cause I don't remeber it very well.

- At the begining, the monster appears on a sledge in the book, while he is going by foot in the film.
- Justine's mother (whose name we don't know) just appears in the film, while Ernest (Vicor's youngest brother) just appears in the book.
- Victor's mother dies because of an illness in the book, and giving birth to Victor in the film.
- In the film the guardians hang a man who thinks that the doctors who are vaccuning everyone because there's an epidemic are liars. This don't happen in the book.
- In the film, they have a party when Victor goes to the university.
- While in the book Victor meets Henry during the infancy, in the film they meet in the university.
- Victor's teacher dies in the film, but he doesn't in the book.
- The experiment is not completly secret in the book, Henry and the teacher know about it.
- In the film the laboratory it's not in a far island like in the book.
- Victor doesn't go to the prison in the film.
- What does not happen in the book is that, the monster saves Felix from another man who hit him and then they enter to the house.
- In the film the monster doesn't save a girl from a river.
- There's no trial before hanging Justine in the film.
- While in the book the photo of William's chain is from Victor's mother, in the film is from Victor.
- Victor's father dies of sadness because of Elizabeth's death in the book, but he's killed by the monster in the film.
- In the film Victor finally cannot continue with the female monster because it was the Justine's body.
- In the book, the monster drown Elizabeth, while he pulls out her heart in the film.
- In the film, Victor wants to give life to Elizabeth again 'cause he can't stand beeing without her. Then she wakes up and realises that is like the monster, although she recognizes Victor. After she commites suicide.
- The monster burns himself near the Victor's dead body in the film.
- Henry doesn't die in the film.

Beeing a celebrity is a great thing.

When somebody asks you who would you like to be, you usually anwer giving the name of a celebrity. So, looking at this fact, we generally think that be a celebrity would be great.
Of course, there are lots of greats things on beeing a famous person. You have got a lot of money, you can go shopping at the fifth avenue every day and you can travel around the world in the best hotels. Moreover, you know lots of famous ppersons and you are invited to chic parties or events like the past Oscar Awards.
Nevertheless, there are some disadvantatges on beeing known around the world. You haven't got any private life even if you want to because you have got the paparzzies behind you durind the whole day.
So I think that, despite of having a lot of money, it has to be horrible to be followed by someone who you don't know and asks you for your life.

Oral presentation.

Here you've got the power point and the video of the oral presentation:

Canada

View more presentations from julia8_29. (tags: canada)

Seven pounds.

Tim Thomas is a man who was married, had a perfect house near the beach and worked as an aeronautical engineer as he always wanted. So everything was perfect until he caused a car accident and seven persons died included his wife.

A year later he gives a lung lobe to his brother Ben, a tax collector of the IRS. After that he starts to search people who needed help. He donates part of his liver to Holly, who works in the child services. Then he gives a kidney to a sixty-yeard-old man called George and he donates bone marrow to Nicholas, a young boy ho has leukaemia.
After that he contacts Holly and asks her for anyone who deserves help. She suggests him a woman called Connie who lives with an abusive boyfriend and two sons. One night Connie is really afraid of her boyfriend and calls Tim asking for help. He gives her the keys of the beach house and she moves there with her children. Before that Tim had moved into a local motel, where he had a jellyfish.
To check out his lasts candidates Tim stoles his brother's credentials and makes him know with his brother's name Ben.
The first one is Ezra, a blind meat salesman who plays the piano. To know if he worths a donation or not Tim calls him saying ungly things. He finally decides yes.
Then he contacts Emily posa, a self-employed woman who has a heart condition and a strabge blood type, the same as Tim, though. They start to spend a lot of time together and they finally fall in love. Nevertheless, Emily's condition is worsening and he decides that it's time for the donation.
Tim goes to the motel and fills the bath with ice water to preserve his vital organs. After, he calls to emergency's number saying thet a suicide has been commited. He climbs in to the bath and pulls his extremly poisonous jellyfish into it. Then Emily recives his heart and Ezra his corneas.

Vocabulary learnt:
liver-fetge
kidney-ronyó
salesman-venedor

Nadal attacks drug-testing rules

Do you think that drug-tests are fair?

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Description of a place

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Pest:

Buda:

Glastonbury tickets are sold out

With no headliners confirmed, almost five months ahead of time, this summer's Glastonbury festival, which runs 26-28 June, has sold out.

In October 2008 the organisers launched an early scheme, and most of the fans completed their payments by the 1st of February. Quite the opposite of last year, when 3000 tickets remained unsold just a day before the opening.
The cancelled or returned tickets will be re-sold on 5 April.
The rumoured healiners include Bruce Springsteen and Blur.

Craig lands role in Tintin movie

The British actor Daniel Craig, best known for playing James Bond, is going to play the villain (Red Rackman) in the next Tintin movie, Secret of the Unicorn, directed by Steven Spielberg. Jamie Bell, who played Billy Elliot, is going to play Tintin.
Steven Moffat was woking on the movie script, but he had to leave it to replace Russell T Davies as producer and lead writer of Doctor Who. He blamed US' writers' strike for delaying his work.
Tintin was created in 1929 by Herge (Georges Remi). Over 200 million copies of his two dozen books have been sold out, and his series has been translated into 70 languages.
This movie, the first of two or three films, is planned to be released in 2011. Peter Jackson, the co-producer, is going to direct the sequel.

Description of a person

The person who I’m going to write a description about is called Nuri Galí Bellapart. She’s sixteen as me, and she is one of my best friends since I’m in Castelló.

Nuri is quite tall, I think she is 1.67metres, so she is up the average. She’s quite thin, although her body is really strong. She has got long and well-structured legs and curious and quite small feet.

Her mouth is a little bit small, despite of having a nice smile. She had been wearing brackets for one year and a half, so her teeth are in the correct order. She has a got an average nose, although I always say to her that it is really big. She has got a long, brown, bright and wavy hair, so I like it because she can bring it straight or curly easily, quite the opposite of me. Finally, I’m going to pay attention to her eyes. I think they are really fascinating. They are the first think you see when you look at her. They are really big and they have different colours. Even though the predominant is the blue-green, there’s a little of brown in the middle.

Her character is really characteristic. She's an active, and very nervous person, she's never still. She is also cheerful, frienly, extroverted and kind. She is always there to help or just tolisten to you when you need it.

She is quite sportive. She loves horses (she has got two) and she goes to ride them every saturday. She likes swimming in summer, when she comes to my swimming pool I always have to wait for her to go out of it. Another of her hobbies is going shopping, she loves it. We usually go together. I think she wears really well, she matches every cloth with another one combining their colour and their style with a perfect result.

In conclusion, I think she is a perfect firend, with who you can laugh, talk, study, go out or play.