MY ENGLISH COMPETENCE

BEST WRITTEN EVIDENCE

I have chosen this task for some reasons. First of all, I want to emphasize the massage that I tried to transmit to the readers; it is sometimes difficult to talk about important things and give your sincere opinion in tasks, because we are obligated to do them and sometimes we don’t put our maximum effort to make them. I consider that I was inspired doing this post and I put big effort in it; in my opinion, the result was that I could transmit the message even though there are probably a lot of people who don’t agree with me.

After that, talking about English in concrete, I think that I used properly the connectors, the grammar and the vocabulary. The vocabulary was not complex but it was used adequately. These are the main reasons why I have chosen this post and not another one.

BEST ORAL EVIDENCE

I have chosen this presentation, which it was the last one, because I consider that my speaking was quite clear and fluent. Of course, it may be normal because as far as it was the last one, it must be the best one.

I like this oral work also because it was about the research project. The research project is individual and very personal, so I consider that this presentation can show properly the real level of someone doing presentations.

On the other hand, I have to say that my oral work is much worse than my grammar and I must improve a lot. I have to improve the way to transmit the message and to make the presentation interesting. I need to improve the pronunciation and the nerves too. For these reasons, I would like to go to England for practising my speaking.

MY ENGLISH PROGRESS

FIRST POST
LAST POST

It is easy to see my English progress looking at these two compositions. The most visual difference is that my vocabulary nowadays is richer than the one that I had two years ago. You can also see that the sentences in my last composition are more difficult that they were in my first one, as far as I use more alternatives ways to write the sentences; for example, I use sometimes the passive and sometimes complex sentences (although these ones are not frequent and current in English).

If I have to remark what is my best improvement, I consider that is the way to use the connectors. They are useful and we all have worked with it to use them properly.

When we talk about the oral presentations, I have eliminated a lot my nerves. Of course, I also have improved the pronunciation, the grammar and the content of the presentations. However, if I would have to choose my best improvement when I talk in public is the fluency and the nerves.

As far as it is the thing I have improved the most, I know that I still have a long way to improve when we talk about oral presentations.

All in all, I have to accept, even though I am quite lazy, that the blog has been useful for me and now I can make richer writings and compositions more fluently than two years ago. The same with oral presentations, it was difficult for me to prepare them but they have been very useful for my English. 

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN MALCOLM

John Malcolm was born in Derbyshire Liverpool in 1975. He studied in the Oxford University. He got a degree in Physics and now has become an expert in “Nanoscience and Nanotecnology”. He is here to answer me some questions that I have about the degree and about the profession that I could have in the future if I study Nanoscience.

What is “Nanoscience and Nanotecnology”?

Nanocience and Nanotecnology is the study of the science and its application but at a microscopic level. Even more little than microscopic level.

Why did not you do this degree and you choose physics?

When I was a student, this degree didn’t exist. It is quite new. But I have to say that physics is required in Nanocience.

What professions could I do after finishing the degree?

Well, as far as I have said that it is a new degree, it is difficult to say which career you could have in the future. However, the degree is a mix of a lot of topics like chemistry, physics, biology, etc. So, when you finish the degree, you can specialize, if you want, in a lot of masters.

What did you find interesting in this topic?

I find this part of the science interesting for two reasons: the first one is that, as I have said before, it is a mix and for me it is good to get knowledge about topics which are related but different too. The second reason is that it is an emergent science and it is the future, so it is interesting to do something new and to collaborate with the progress.

Why it is said that “Nanoscience and Nanotecnology” is the future?

Well, on one hand, this degree works a lot on improve and maximize the power with the objective to reduce expenses. On the other hand, it also works to improve renewable power, which is something that all countries want to dominate.

ARE WE TOO DEPENDANT ON MOBILE PHONES?

The era of the smartphones has arrived and we tend to do all things through our smartphonel. This new technology is useful but we don't have to forget the rest of the things in our life; this is what a lot of people are doing.

First of all, we must avoid our dependance with the phone. It's true that most of the people could live without the phone during a period of time. However, there are also people who could njot do it; in fact, every day there are more people in this side.

Secondly, we have to be aware that the line which separates both sites is very thin. We must try to leave our smartphones behint when we are doing other activities with the objective to get over this addiction.

To sum up, most of us are not too dependant on the smartphone but we are near it so we must get away of the line that separates the dependance and the our own autonomy without the mobilephone.

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT CAN'T BE BOUGHT?

Nowadays, we live in a society that value money over all. This is capitalism. Capitalism shows you that the only way to progress is to desire money and try to earn the most that you can. No matter if some people end in the street; you are better, you have better ideas, you earn more money, you know how to destroy the competence. Who can blame you for being more intelligent?

We are like children; we want to accumulate properties to feel successful ourselves. We have forgotten how is the satisfaction to rich a goal, we only want to get it if, at the end, there is some money for you. This is, in part, education’s fault. The evidence of this point is that you are worse seen if you fight for an objective not related with money that if you cheat someone to get some money.

 An example: A commercial convinces that you need to buy a running machine to be well-looking. You buy it and you realize that, with your 40^th, you can’t be like when you were 20^th. Isn’t it a cheat? However, it is totally accepted in our society. The owners of the running machine company are more “normal” in our society that a person who work for free because he likes to do his work. How many people would present their TDR to a championship if there wasn’t a price for the best project?

Of course, there are other people that can’t accept these points. So there are two groups of people in our society: the first group value money over all and think that they can buy anything with money, they try to solve all the problems with money but they become stressful when they find a problem that money can’t solve. In this moment, when they realize that money is not always the solution, they change their position and start to own to the second group of people. The second group knows that are feelings that can’t be bought, so they value other things like friendship, love, motivation to have knowledge, etc.

The truth is that, in my opinion, everybody starts in the first group and almost everybody ends in the second group. The difference is that there are people who change the group when they are children, there are the ones who do it when they are teenagers, the ones who do it when they are adults and there are few ones who never will pass this step.

What I meant with capitalism is not that it is a bad way to govern, only that this type of society makes us to change the group much later that we would to in another society. 

RIGHT TO SEEK A SAFE PLACE TO LIVE

C/St Pau nº 32

Palau, Spain

3424

7th April 2014

Mr Mariano Rajoy
La Moncloa
Madrid

Dear Sir Mariano Rajoy

I am writing this letter in order to complain about the situation of the people who are losing their home and how the government is acting in front of this.

I ask myself if you or one of your ministers know anything about the Human Rights. Let me explain you something: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were written in 1946 and were supported by all the members of the United Nations. If I am not wrong, Spain is part of the United Nations so I has to suppose that Spain support Human Rights.

I suppose too that you have heart something about people that have lost their home because they cannot pay the bills, the “Desahucios”. Even I think it is obvious, I do not want to argue about who owns the fault, if the banks or the people; I would like to know where is the protection of Human Rights. The 14^th Human Right says that everybody has the right to seek a safe place and what is doing the government is helping these people to live in the streets (which is illegal).

There could be a lot of possibilities to help these people, you and your government only would have to want to help them. In fact, your support for the Human Rights requires you to do something with this problem.

Thank you for your time.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Eloi Güell

HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights are the rights you have simply because you are human. Everyone owns them. They were written in 1946 by Eleanor Roosevelt in the Declaration of Human Rights and there were thirty.

The rights with the ones I was not familiar are these ones:

·         9- No unfair detainment

·         13- Freedom to move

·         15- Marriage and family

·         17- The right to your own things

·         20- The right to public assembly

·         24- The right to play

We can find a fair example of the human rights in the modern countries like the European ones, were the slavery has been totally abolished.

I consider that the human rights is a type of joke or an utopia; anyone with a little bit of common sense knows that none of these human rights is secure over the hole world. An example of this could be the first one: No one is equal when they born, there are countries where most of the babies have as a destiny death with few months. The human rights don’t exist, they only would have to exist. 

EDUCATION IS THE KEY

Education is about inspiring one’s mind, not just filling their head: I cannot agree more with this sentence. It is true that sometimes education is built in a way that forces students to memorize dates and sentences and it doesn’t help them to learn and to inspire themselves. However, I consider that, when you want to have a consistent opinion about something, you need to have some knowledge that you only can have memorized; for example: history and philosophy.

If you don’t build your dreams, someone else will hire you to help build theirs: If I consider literally the meaning of the sentence, I have to say that the construction of one’s dreams is compatible with the construction of the other ones dreams. However, I think that the only meaning of these words is a motivation to enjoy your own life and I think this sentence can help this people who life working for other people and helping only to the other ones.

There is more than one way in this world to be an educated man:  On one hand, it’s true; there is more than one way. On the other hand, it is far more difficult to get your dreams if you don’t have studies. I have the feeling that the message that the video want to give you is correct but the way to do can be not clear and it can be easily misunderstood. The boy of the video says a lot of names of extraordinary people that had not studies, but we have to be conscious that they are/were EXTRAORDINARY and the rest of the people who drop out school finish doing something that they didn’t want. 

A SOULMATE FOR ME

It’s difficult to believe in a unique soulmate when we know that there are lots of millions of people around the world. And it’s difficult too to believe in a soulmate which is completely perfect for you when you know that there are infinite possible souls. A soul is made with the genetics and with the environment when it grows up so it is impossible to believe in a concret soul that is the only valid one. Consequently, we have only to think about people who you like better than other people.

When I think about a soulmate I only consider character qualities, not physical ones. A soul which I would like, to put an example, would be an energetic and humorous person. She would have to have sense of humor but she would have to be responsible too. So I consider that she would have to be a little bit crazy even though not in important moments when you have to be serious to choose an important decision. I don’t like extremes; self-confident is a good quality but I hate arrogance; I prefer modesty and ambition to improve your defects. Adding to that, another quality that this soul would have to own is tolerance; I also hate intolerant people who think that there is only a way to be or a way to think.

I don’t know if there are a lot of people with these qualities but I am sure that is silly for anyone to get impatient looking for a soulmate.

Self evaluation

PRESENTATION: Correct. 1

BODY LANGUAGE AND EYE CONTACT: I read too much and my tone was too uniform. 0'6

STRUCTURE: Clear structure. 1

CONTENT: Difficult to explain my project in an oral presentation (even more in english). 3'3

LANGUAGE: Rich vocabulary. 1'9

PRONUNCIATION: Some mistakes and difficulties. 0'7

FINAL MARK: 8'5

Research paper abstract

The future of human nature

The objective of this bioethics project is to study and analyze the main conflicts that are associated with liberal eugenics, the improvement of the human species. It is a discussion between different points in favor and against the liberal eugenics from five different philosophers, two in favor and three against it. At the end of the project, I reflect on the best arguments and I have drawn where the limits should be in the future.

Can Internet change the world for the better?

Internet is taking the main role in the evolution of the 21st century. A new era has appeared where Internet has started to be accessible for all population. The question is: can it change our world for the better?

The main conflicts that Internet produces are two: the loss of privacy value and that some information quality is questionable. However, we can only consider valid the first point against it because it is seen that TV and radio information is sometimes censored and manipulated by governments or the economic powers. That's why we can consider Internet more objective, because we can view different points of view, always knowing which sites are reliable. Moreover, Internet allows us to get information that we want where and when we need it, a part from the knowledge that we have in every moment about what is happening around the world.

To conclude, Internet is changing radically the world for the better although the privacy is being secluded of what we consider important.

Feminism

Pride and Prejudice has a representation of the feminism in Elisabeth even though the novel was created in the 18th century. It is true that she does not say it and surely she does not consider herself a feminist but the way she acts, giving respect and valuing herself, is not typical for a girl in the 18th century.

Feminism is not a bat concept like sexism is. The thing is that feminism has borned to fight against sexism, a social issue that is associated with past. Thanks of feminism; society in developed countries has done big advancements. We can see it in the advertisements, in the governments, in the law... However, there is a long way in front of us if we want to eliminate definitively the sexism. If I have said some places where we can see the improvement, I have to say too that we still can see the sexism in these places: the cleaning products are always announced by women, the governments are more represented by men and we can still see some prejudices associated with people sex.

To conclude, feminism has been a positive movement and we need it to stay in our society if we want to continue advancing and we don't want to return to the past.

Joke - Little Jonny

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1649746-eloi-and-james

Gallows humor

Introduction (Arià)

Hello, TGIF everybody, we are Eloi and Arià as you probably know and we are going to explain you what kinds of humor we can find and then we will focus on the black humor also called gallows humor. We will tell you some about its history, this humor in our daily life, in the television and finally we will show you some examples of it. I hope you enjoy very much with our presentation.

Types of humour (Arià)

There are different types of jokes destinate to different people because everybody has their own taste. One important factor to consider is the geographical situation, for example if you are in Africa it’s not recommended to make a racist joke against colored people. Other factors to consider are the culture, the maturity, intelligence... For example this joke is for people with a bit of maths knowledge. If you show it to a intelligent person then he or she will make at least a little smile trying to say “Yes, I understood it” instead of being the worst joke ever.

Black humor consists on making jokes about  serious topics like death or disease. it is exactly the opposite to intelligent jokes, they usually are stupid and if they are bad the other person instead of laughing will probably watch you very bad in the best case. But on the other hand  black humor is funny.

History (Eloi) 

As its name indicates, the expression “Gallows humor” has its origin before the middle age in England, it refers to the practice of execute criminals in front of the crowd, on a stage in a gallows. People went there as an entertaining event, more or less like the actual 3D cinema with the difference that it was quite more realistic. They made comments and jokes about the murder, the thief or other type of criminals. These cruel jokes that consisted on laughing at the condemned face was called gallows humor. In usual circumstances these type of jokes weren’t funny and they were not respectuous, but people made an exception with these people because they decided that condemned people didn’t deserve their respect. We have kept the word but his meaning has changed because nowadays there are not executions like in the middle age but we laugh at modern serious problems like obesity, wars, diseases... In the past, people made the jokes at the condemned face. Now, it’s true that some people, writers, periodists, humorists make black jokes in public but the truth is that we usually hear and we use this humor in close situations at the back of the affected people, not in their faces. The main topic in the history of gallows humor was in the middle age, the serious Black plague that killed many people in Europe. That’s why we also call black humor to the gallows humor.

Black humor in our daily life. (Eloi)

In public, everybody, when we hear a black joke we put indignation face and say: “oh that’s terrible!” But admit this. All of you have laught out loud at a black joke. Even more, the funniest moments in your life when you have laughed most are with black humor. 

The truth is that black humor or gallows humor doesn’t usually appear in our daily life. It tends to appear only in small groups of friends who you have big confidence with. These type of jokes are very dangerous and can cause to you a lot of problems if you are not careful with who is listening to you; because you usually make these jokes with the objective to have a good time with your friends or people who are very close to you but it can become an offense to some people. So there are some things that you must not do: 

In general, what you mustn’t do is make jokes about some topics that can affect someone who is listening. For example, you can’t tell a joke about death if there is a person listening to you who has lost a familiar recently. Or you can’t make a joke about jews in the nazi germany if there is someone very sensitized with this conflict or someone who has a jew in the family. Or you can’t tell a joke about losers if there is a Real Madrid supporter in front of you.. that would be too cruel.

Black humor in television (aria) 

A lot of important writers have used gallows humour in literature. These writers have been  very brave because this kind of humour is accompanied by controversy. In our country, the most famous writer who has used is Quim Monzó. Oscar Wilde, who wrote “The picture of Dorian Grey” has used black humour too. Another famous writer who uses the black humor is Woody Allen. 

In cinema there also have been always gallows humor. Since black and white cinema by Charles Chaplin in his film “The great dictator” which is a parody about the Nazi conflict to actual directors like Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino. In TV, two drawers have had the protagonism of black humor in their cartoons. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, and Seth MacFarlane, the creator of American Dad, Family Guy and The Cleveland Show. Both of them uses gallows humor but Seth MacFarlane use it harder and their cartoons are a better example of black humor.

Examples of black humour videos and images (Arià)

Here we have put some examples of gallows humor, first of all we have to say that we are only showing you images and examples and our intention is not to offend anybody. Probably you will find funny some of the images or you will think that they have nothing funny. But what we don’t want is that you think that we are cruel or that we have bad intentions. Everybody has understood it? 

Conclusion (Eloi)

We made the presentation about this topic because we thought that is the funniest type of humor even though most of the people don’t recognise it. But we think that we don’t have to be afraid of using this humor (of course, only in the correct circumstances and with the correct people). Please, don’t go now in front of the President of Spain and tell him a joke of retarded people. we hope that you have enjoyed during the presentation and we are sure that, if you have paid attention, tonight you will go to sleep knowing something new. 

Self evaluation

I general, I thing we did a great job. The presentation and the structure were clear and we had good body language and eye contact. I should improve that I watch at the paper too much. The content in general wasn't very complex but it was simple and easy to understand, the same as language (I have to be careful with false friends). The other thing that I have to correct is the pronunciation of some words. 
It wasn't perfect but we did it quite good.

You can see the Prezzi here

 http://prezi.com/brl68cft49yr/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share


Caused by a format mistake, I could not upload the video of the oral presentation. I apologize for this.

Eloi Güell: Gallows humor
Presentation (10%)	Do you use any resources? Are the resources relevant and attractive and focused on the topic? Do they support your presentation? Is the timing 5-7 minutes?		9
Body language and eye contact (10%)	Are you looking at your audience most of the time? Are you reading occasionally from your notes? Are you doing any gestures / movement to hold the attention of the audience?		9
Structure (10%)	Do you organize your ideas in order of importance? Do you use discourse markers to make your ideas more clear?		10
Content (35%)	Do you introduce interesting, NEW information to your audience? Is your information detailed and clear? Do you give / show examples? Is your information copied from a source or is it original? Did you look up information/facts/ideas in the Internet/books…?		30
Language (25%)	Is your grammar correct, complex? Is your vocabulary rich and varied? Do you use sentence linkers? Do you use pause fillers?		20
Pronunciation  (10%)	Do you know how to pronounce all your words? Did you check the pronunciation with a dictionary, a classmate or the teacher? Do you change your tone of voice or use a monotone tone all the time? Did you speed in a fluid continuum or with breaks and interruptions? Total: 8'6		8

Nip/Tuck dialogue

Scenario:  A young couple in the garden of the hall residence of their university.

Characters: Jane & jack

Jack: Look at her boobs. Darling, you should have them! jeje

Jane: Shut up jack, I’m happy with my body! Don’t you?

Jack: I was joking, you are fucking perfect.

Jane: Well, there is a thing that I have been thinking for a long time…

Jack: What?

Jane: Jack, you… you don’t satisfy me enough... Your little bird is… is a… bit small to me. I’m wrong?

Jack: WTF? What do you mean? Are you kidding me?

Jane: Jack, come on… You know what I mean.

Jack: Oh liar, you always have pleasure with me.

Jane: I have to accept it, I simulate when I’m shouting. You know, the shower satisfies me more than you darling.

Jack: Okay okay. Do you know what? I wasn’t joking about your boobs. I have seen bigger apples.

Jane: Oh Jack! You don’t think so! In any case, at least I can have them erected for a few minutes.

Jack: What?!

Jane: Your bird Jack… it’s faster than the light…

Jack: I can’t support it any more, you’re a fucking slut and you will never find anybody like me. That’s all, we have finished…

Jane: At last!, don’t make me laugh, my little sister is more man than you.

They leave opposite directions. Both thinking on their own.

WOMEN AND THEIR POWER

It is not true that no woman is a genius. They have made fewer inventions and have achieved fewer scientific goals because they always have been in situation of inequality. However, there have been important and powerful women in the past and there will be more in the future. An example of that is that one of the most powerful people in the world is a woman; the president of Germany.

Regarding the second part of the sentence, except because Henry I referring only to women. What I mean is that is true that these people who have nothing to say, they say it charmingly. When someone shouts to give their opinion to other people, this is because their words are weak and nobody can trust them. We can see an example in some TV programmes where some people argue about something and it is impossible to hear something because all of the shouting.

My goals

A few words on Obama’s speech have caught my attention because, in my opinion, is the best advise that anyone can give to another person.  This sentence is “You have to let your failures teach you”. I always say that I haven’t regretted anything in my life, even my mistakes or when I have been very unlucky; thanks of these failures I got experience in life and now I am where I am. So even thought I would like not to make many mistakes in life, I am sure that the mistakes I will make will help me to realize my dreams.

The word “dream” is too grandiloquent and when I say “a dream” I think about unreal things that I wished when I was a child, like be able to fly or play in F.C.Barcelona. So I prefer to speak about goals or challenges. I have to confess that I don’t like long term challenges; I prefer to enjoy every day and every moment and put myself little and short term goals. But everyone wishes something for the future and probably my longest term goal is to get a job that realizes me and one in which I can enjoy doing it. In this moment, it doesn’t come to my mind another long term goal. However, I have a lot of short term goals, these are some of them: I want to get my First Certificate and I’m doing the exam this Friday, I also want to get the driving license and, of course, the Batxillerat. There is also a challenge which is not a goal; I want to play football during a long time without interruptions or injuries. It really doesn’t depend on me but I can do exercises and previsions that can help me to avoid injuries.

Obama’s speech is very motivational and gives you inspiration. I don’t want to need second chances although I know that I will need them. But the only thing that I’m completely sure is that I will put my best effort to get my goals, my challenges and, if I can, my dreams.

The necessity of laughing

Everyone is different and every person has his own needs. Moreover, most of us have never known someone who has not laughed ever, that is why is difficult to say what would happen to someone who has never laughed. However, most humans need laugh loudly occasionally because it is proved that it gives physical health, mental health and social benefits.

The best known and the biggest benefits are probably the mental ones. Everyone knows that laughing deletes stress and anxiety and these are factors that makes you less happy. But, what about the physical benefits? Did you know that laughing prevents heart diseases? This is only one benefit; even though, there are a lot: it relaxes muscles, it boosts immunity… We can’t forget the social benefits too. It is helpful for strengthen relationships, for avoid conflicts, it improves teamwork...

What’s the purpose of our life? According to some philosophers, is the personal research to the happiness and the only way to achieve it, is laughter. We have a natural sense of humour, nobody taught us how we had to laugh when we were only days old, but we did. It’s the only natural way to express our feelings with the crying, obviously the first one express the happiness while the second one express bad feelings.

In our society we are educated to earn money and success in the future, so people think that their objectives in the world are to be as rich as possible the day of their death, it’s completely false! You won’t need any stuff in the place you will go after die... So we have to approach every second to be happy and delay the other as much as possible.

To sum up we would like to say “don’t worry, be happy because life lasts two days”. Worries bring problems while laugher eliminate them. Definitely laugh isn’t necessary to live but it’s required to live good, as a person. So, if you want to do a favor to yourself or to the people around you, laugh in every opportunity you have and give a smile to yourself and to everybody.

Eloi Güell & Arià Canadell

WE HAVE ALMOST LEARNT TO RESPECT THE WORLD, ARE YOU AGREE?

Every day we hear about the consequences of the climate change. In my opinion the current society knows that we have to respect the world and they, at practical situations, respect it, more or less but, at least, they are aware of this problem. The worst is that people who pollute the Earth the most, factories and big companies, only want to be richer and richer every day and don’t mind about the planet and next generations. There is only one way to change that, in my view.

First of all, ordinary people like you and me have to be conscient of whose fault it is and support factories that respect the planet.

Secondly, these factories that are polluting every day are going to have to change their policy or will ruin the company.

Finally, if we respect the world and big companies respect it too, the situation of our planet will be better and we will stop the climate change.

In conclusion, we know how to change the future but I’m afraid these things won’t happen and climate change will happen.