FINAL REFLECTION

Since 4th of ESO, we have been working on our personal blog. Now, three years and 119 posts later, I can see my improvement, which I am going to comment right now.

MY ENGLISH PROGRESS FROM 2014-2017
First, I’m going to compare my first written document with my last one, to see if there are important differences (which I hope there are!). In my first “My world” I talked about what I did at the weekend. So, first of all, I have to say that the topic was really not interesting. Now, I think I improved in that aspect; I always try to talk about interesting topics, giving my opinion about something… For example, in my last post I gave my opinion about the pressure women receive to remove their body hair. The length of the posts is another important difference: now I try to make them longer (even though I don’t have so much time to dedicate to the blog) and more sophisticated. In my first post, also, I didn’t use so many connectors, and the ones that I used were the typical ones; now I have learned more and more complex ones (“as well as”, “even though”…). Another aspect that I wanted to comment was the fluency; now I can write writings so much faster and easily than before, and this is mostly thanks to the blog. Making so many posts helped me developing and improving my fluency on writing English, and this is positive in all the aspects. The only negative thing is that I had spent a lot of time on the blog that maybe I could have spent doing other things; but, at the end, I think it was worth it.

Focusing on the oral presentations, the first one that I did was about my hero. I did not record it, and it’s a shame because now I can’t compare it with my last one. Still, I can say that I improved, because now I speak with more fluency than before. I’m sure, also, that in my recent oral presentations I use more complex vocabulary and better structures. Another aspect that I got better at is at pronunciation. I can compare it to one that I did in first batxillerat and the difference is important. This is my most recent oral presentation. Also, another aspect that I wanted to comment, which actually is not really related to improving my English, is the confidence making oral presentations. Personally, I’m a person who likes to talk a lot and also speaking in public, but doing it in English is more difficult because I’m not as fluent speaking it as I am speaking Catalan or Spanish, so improvising is more difficult. But, since I started doing oral presentations in English, I feel like I improved in that aspect; now I don’t get so much nervous and I’m able to control myself a little more, and not just doing English oral presentations, but oral presentations in general.

MY ENGLISH PROGRESS IN 2017
Believe me, it has been such a drama for me to choose the best oral evidence of mine, but I think the best one is the last oral presentation that I did, which was about my research project. I have chosen this one because I think is the one where I speak more fluently and less nervous, and with better pronunciation. It was the last one that I did, so it’s quite normal that it has to be the better one (that means that I have improved). I have to say that I was hesitating between this one and the one I did with my classmate Mar Oliva, which was about dreams. I loved that one because, for me, the topic was very interesting, so I liked doing it and I also learned so many things. Another one that I loved was the podcast in which we had to represent a dialogue. I did it also with Mar and I think it was very funny and original, and also we try to make it as theatrical as possible, so it was also a good one. But, definitely, for me, the best one is the oral presentation about my research project.

About my best writing, I think it is the one that is called “Make America great again?”, in which I talked about the new president of the United States, Donald Trump. I have chosen this one because I liked the topic, and I think I expressed my thoughts correctly. In my opinion, doing your-says where I express my opinion or complain about something are the best, because it’s where I write more fluently. Also, I don’t think there are a lot of mistakes in it(of course, there are some, because I’m still learning), so that’s another reason why I think this is my best writing.


In conclusion, doing the blog has been a nice experience, I think I gained a lot of knowledge and it also has helped me developing my English skills. The only negative part of it is that it was so long. I mean, we had to do a lot of posts, and sometimes I got stressed because of it. I think we should have done some of them in class, or simply do less. Well, now that I have finished, I have to recognise (as I just have said at the beginning of this paragraph) that doing the blog it has been positive and has helped me a lot, but I think I don’t have to forget the cons of doing it, which was the stress that caused me in some moments.

YOUR SAY

MANDATORY HAIR REMOVAL?

Some days ago, I was having lunch with my family while looking at the TV. Nothing special. A program called “Cámbiame” (“Change me, in English) was being shown in the TV. Basically, this TV show is about people who want to change their appearance; there are three stylists who can decide whether they want to change that person or not. If a person has been chosen, then one stylist changes his or her style. 

Frankly, I wasn’t even paying attention to it, until I heard a comment made by one of the stylists, which said to a girl that “It’s not possible for a woman to have hair on her arms”. Then I started paying attention to the program, especially to the girl, who was a cute young teenager. I had to make an effort to see her “hairy arm”; yes, she had some hairs, but it wasn’t that bad. At the end the stylist ended up removing her hair (what a surprise!).

What happened in that program made me think about the pressure women receive to remove their body hair. Of course, everybody can do what they want, and now more and more women are deciding to stop removing their hair, simply because they don’t want to do it anymore. But people keep looking at women who don’t remove their body hair in a bad way. And I ask myself: why? Does affect anybody if a woman decides to have hair in their body? Is your live worse because of that? Of course not, and I think society has to stop putting so many pressure on girls (and boys too).

 Also, returning to what I was saying at the beginning, about the comment done by one stylist of the program “Cámbiame”, it really made my angry. Of course, even though I accept people who decide not to remove their body hair (that’s the normal thing to do, in my opinion; everybody can do what they want with their lives if it doesn’t affect anybody else), I understand that maybe there are people who don’t like women with body hair. As well as someone doesn’t like people with tattoos, there can be people who don’t like someone with body hair; no problem. This is one thing, and the other one is to say that “It’s not possible for a woman to have hair on her arms”. Excuse me? It’s perfect for a woman to have hair on her arms, or to have blue hair, or to do whatever she wants with her body. I found this commentary totally sexist. Women are free to decide what they want to do with her body, and don’t being judged for it. Well, not just women, everybody.

DESCRIPTION OF MY SOULMATE

What is a soulmate? From my point of view, a soulmate is a person who fits perfectly with you, that, in some way, it completes you. Frankly, even though I consider myself a romantic person, I don’t really believe in soulmates. Each person is a world, with its characteristics and its way of being. Therefore, I think it’s almost impossible to find “the perfect one”. But don’t consider it a pessimistic point of view; for me, it’s better to find a person who you can share your life with, a person who loves you back, who cares about you and, obviously, a person with imperfections. For me, it’s not about spending your time finding your other half (if it exists), it’s about loving someone so much that their faults will be converted into their virtues. You know, just loving someone, not caring about if he or she is your soulmate or not. If you really love them, they will be perfect for you (maybe even more perfect than you actual “soulmate”!). 

Now that I have given my point of view about the existence of soulmates, I find it difficult to describe my soulmate without contradicting myself. Therefore, I would say that, for me, my “soulmate” has to be someone that loves me, that cares about me and that accepts me the way I am. About the rest of things I can’t say anything, because I'm not looking a tall guy, with blue eyes and a perfect smile, who loves exactly the same things as I do, for example. I mean, I’m not looking for a prototype of guy, because it will be difficult to find, and if I found one with these physical characteristics, maybe then I would not like their personality. 

On the other hand, talking about personality, maybe I have some requisites, but of course they are not very important. For example, I like people who make me laugh, who are loyal and trustworthy. There are other things less important like spontaneity: I like spontaneous and happy people. But, as I said before, I don’t have a prototype of physical appearance nor personality. 

Therefore, in conclusion, I’m not able to describe my soulmate, because I don’t believe in one, even though I like some kind of people, like loyal and funny people.

NEWS

THE BLUE WHALE SUICIDE CHALLENGE

This news is about a new challenge that makes the person who is playing commit suicide after 50 days. This challenge is known as the Blue Whale, and it is quite famous in Russia. It is believed to be an online social media group, in which there is an administrator that gives daily challenges to the members. In total, there are 50 (one each day) and they consist of watching extreme horror movies, getting up at unusual hours, self-harming… They gradually get more and more extreme, until the last challenge is to commit suicide.

One of the reasons teenagers follow this type of challenges is peer pressure. Sometimes friends incite to make dangerous things, but kids have to know how and when to say “no”. Parents have an important role in teaching their kids than they can still be accepted even if they don’t do exactly what the other friends do.

The photo Yulia Konstantinova posted on her Instagram account
before commitig suicide along with her friend Veronika Volkova

As it was said before, the Blue Whale is quite famous in Russia and there have been about 130 suicides of children between November 2015 and April 2016, which can be related to this challenge. It is not proved, but there exist multiple bonds between almost all these teenagers, for example, most of them were members of the same internet groups and lived in good and happy families. Among these suicides, it stands out the case of two teenagers, Yulia Konstantinova and Veronika Volkova, 15 and 16 respectively, who jumped from a roof of a 14-floor building. Yulia, before committing suicide, posted a picture of a blue whale in her Instagram.

PERSONAL OPINION:

When I read this news, the first thing it came to my mind was: “Who can be so sick and macabre to create this challenge?”. Because, behind all these challenges there has to be a person (or more than one) creating them. Encouraging people to commit suicide, especially when they are going through a bad period in their lives is really mean. We should try to help depressed people to overcome it and be happy. Of course, at the end we are free, and a person can choose to kill him or herself, but I don’t think we should encourage them doing it. Instead, we have to help them overcome their problems.

NEW WORDS:

Sway: influenciar, influir
Chilling: esgarrifós, esfereïdor
Peer: col·lega, amic
Goad: incitar, provocar


Link: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/3003805/blue-whale-suicide-game-online-victims/

NEWS

ASYLUM DENIED

This news is about two boys who asked for asylum in the US, but they were refused. One of them had been threatened by some gang members; they said they were going to kill him. In front of this situation, the boy decided to leave his home and go to the United States. When he and another boy were at the US border, they explained their situations to the officials, but they didn’t seem to care that much and told them to wait outside. They waited all day long, until one lawyer who was crossing the border with another client saw them and help them.

The worst of all is that this is not an isolated case, but the number of cases is increasing, especially since Trump became the president of the United States. In theory, the law says that if someone arrives at the border asking for asylum, CBP agents have to send the person to a specialist to examine his or her situation, but this is not always like that. More and more, US agents are illegally denying entrance to people asking for asylum.

Even though these prohibitions are increasing, they are not only a result of Trump’s policy, but they were there before he came to power. The writer of that news says that this is a serious problem and that the government has to do something about it. They have to investigate and punish the agents who have behaved illegally.

PERSONAL OPINION:

This news shows the violation of one human right: the right to have asylum. As it says, everybody has the right to have asylum in cases of danger, no matter where they come from. Of course, I am against what these US agents are doing to people who ask for asylum. Imagine you're in their situation; That in your country you have been threatened with death and then when you ask for asylum they deny it. But what upsets me the most is why the US agents do not let Mexican people pass it because of racist reasons. Unfortunately, there are a lot of racist people in the USA (and in the world too), as it shows the fact that Trump is the president. I hope one day we get over racism, which is one of the main reason why most of the human rights are not coming into effect right now.

NEW WORDS:

Flee: escapar
Entrenched: refractari, retrògrad 
Seeker: persona que busca alguna cosa

Link: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/05/03/us-turning-away-asylum-seekers-mexican-border

SPEECH

IS THE WORLD PROGRESSING?

If I ask you: "Do you think the world is progressing?" I'm quite sure your answer will be "of course! What makes you think the opposite?". We just have to compare our lives nowadays with our ancestors and, please, the difference is huge, isn't it?

But I will tell you one thing: here, in the Western World, we tend to just focus on ourselves and not even thinking about the others. But that doesn't mean the rest of the world lives as well as we do. Now, what if I tell you that the shoes you are wearing right now have been made by a seven-year-old kid from Thailand, who works 12 hours and whom we have stolen his childhood. How would you feel? Or, let’s put a clearer example. I’m sure someone here has an iPhone7, or the latest Samsung mobile. These devices can do things we cannot even imagine; they are awesome, pure technology. If we compare them to the mobiles we had ten years ago, the difference is huge. So, clearly, the world has progressed in this aspect, we have improved in technology. Now let’s focus on the other side of the coin: the precarious situation where these types of mobile phones are done. Do you remember? The seven-year-old kid. Is this what progress looks like? I will say the world is progressing when the whole world is progressing, not just a part of it.
Today I will only ask you one thing to do: open your eyes and think about the current situation of our world. Then, the next time I will ask you if you think the world is progressing, maybe you will have a different answer.

Thank you so much for your attention.

INFORMAL LETTER

Muralla Street, 14

Castelló d'Empúries, Girona, Spain (17486)

20th April, 2017

Hi there!

How's everything going? I hope it's all going fine. Well, maybe you are wondering why I'm writing to you. It's because of a serious issue. I've been seeing you so much in your phone recently, and I'm worried. Maybe you don't see it as a serious thing but believe me, it is. I've been searching through the Internet and I found there's a phobia called "Nomophobia", which is the fear of being apart of your cell phone. I looked for the symptoms (constantly topping up the battery life, compulsively checking the phone...) and that's exactly what you do. I'm talking seriously: that's not a joke and I'm worried about you.

Maybe you should try staying an hour without checking your phone, then two hours... and increasing that time. Believe me: you will feel so much better then.

And well, that's all. If you need any help with that, I can give you a hand.

Lots of love,

Paula

NEWS

30 YEARS LIVING AS A SLAVE

This is not really news; it’s actually a story of a woman, called Guadalupe Pérez Castillo, who was enslaved for about 30 years of her life. Her story is the following one: she was born in Las Agujas, a small town of Mexico. Her family was poor, and she used to help her family’s economy selling fruit in the town’s market. One day, a woman came to visit Guadalupe’s house, and offered her to work with her as a babysitter. In exchange, the woman will pay her, send her to a good school and send money to her family. For Guadalupe, that was a really good offer, so she accepted it (at that time, she was 10 years old).

But things didn’t turn out to be so perfect. Guadalupe quickly understood that the woman would not pay her, and she also had to do all the housework and care for the children. But that wasn’t the worse: she had to sleep on the floor, she could only eat scraps, and they even hit her for no apparent reason. Obviously, she tried several times to scape, but she didn’t succeed in any of attempts. The woman and her husband also threatened her that they would kill her if she continues trying to escape, so she stopped doing it. She finally escape when she was 40, taking advantage of a moment where the family was gone because they were all at the hospital (because their son had had an accident).

Guadalupe Pérez had to stand 30 years of forced labor, beatings, sexual abuse, lack of food…All these made her dump and now she has some mental problems. She is extremely shy, always looks down when she’s talking to somebody, among other things. She doesn’t know how to live in freedom, because she has lived 30 years as a slave. Now she’s visiting a therapist, who’s trying to teach her how to be free, how to make her own decisions, manage her money…


PERSONAL OPINION:

As now we are working on a project of human rights, I found interesting to choose this article. It’s shameful that in 2017 we still have to deal with slavery. So now we are able to travel to the moon, for example, but we don’t know how to stop slavery? I think the problem are the governments, that they are not interested in eliminate slavery. Maybe governments will not resolve the entire problem, because for example, in the case of Guadalupe Pérez would have been difficult to know that that girl was being enslaved. Therefore, maybe the solution is to make efforts to improve the life of the poor people, so that anyone won’t be as desperate to become a slave. I know it’s easy to say but difficult to do, but I have hope in a better world!

NEW WORDS:

Attorney: advocat
Self-assured: segur d'un mateix
Stretched: escàs, insuficient
Elated: eufòrica, entusiasmada 


Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/27/world/freedom-project-30-years-a-slave/index.html