NEWS

iPHONE 7? YOU'RE FIRED!

Can you imagine getting fired from your job just because you have the iPhone 7? Or that your boss tells you your mobile would harm your promotion chances? This is the policy some employers in China are threatening to take against employees who have the iPhone 7. The reasons they take to defend their position are that they do it for patriotic reasons and to prevent workers from being too materialistic.

The first company to announce this rule was Nanyang Yongkang Medicine Company, in the province of Henan. The policy was timed to coincide with commemoration of the 85th anniversary of Japanese troops invading north east China in 1931, so this was an excuse to argue the boycott of foreign products. But, really, boycotting the iPhone 7 can be counterproductive to the national economic interest because Apple manufacturing is carried out at Foxconn factories based in China.

However, there are people who believe that boycotting the iPhone 7 can be beneficial to the economy and that this policy should be instituted across the country. They argue that if people are pressured with getting fired if they buy the new iPhone 7, they will be forced to buy a mobile made in China, so the sales of domestic phones will be increased.

Mr. Liu, an employer of Nanyang Yongkang Medicine Company that the main objective of this rule was to encourage staff to pay more attention to their family instead of luxury goods. The iPhone 7 could lead their workers to developing an unhealthy obsession with pricey technology. Also, it’s a fact that the new iPhone 7 is very expensive, and the Company didn’t want their workers to waste money. Besides, most of their employees really can’t afford buying an iPhone 7, so they normally borrow money from banks, family or friends, or they even do crazy things like selling their organs just to buy it.

Even though this policy isn’t applied yet in any company, more and more of them are discussing about rather apply it or not.

PERSONAL OPINION:

In my point of view, I don’t think it’s fair to forbid your employees to buy the iPhone 7. Each person has to have the right to buy the mobile phone they want. Even though the Company does that to prevent workers from wasting their money (but also under the name of patriotism, don’t forget that), I don’t think they should be able to decide whether their workers can buy this mobile phone or not. In the same way, I find excessive that a business gives the sack to their workers just for buying the iPhone 7. It totally doesn’t make sense for me. Personally, I think applying this policy the Company is violating its workers’ rights.

NEW WORDS:

Device: aparell

Conterproductive: contraproduent

Supplier: proveïdor

Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-37523712

YOUR SAY

ZOOS

In this your say I want to talk about some place that annoys me a lot: zoos. 

I have to say that when I was little once I went to the zoo in Barcelona, and I liked it. I’ve always been an animal lover, so it’s not surprising that ten years ago I liked going to the zoo, because I didn’t know what the reality about these places is. But when I grew up, I realized that the zoos are not a happy place, at least, not for the animals living there. These animals are forced to live in small, artificial and stressful gates, so they don’t have any freedom. They are removed from their natural habitats, from their similar ones, even from their family. They are miserable there. And all this to get what? Just for some humans to go there and say “Oh, how curious, look at that lion”. Yes, I know is fun to see exotic animals, but you also have to think that these animals have to spend all their live in captivity just for you to look at them during two minutes. And I think that’s not fair. If you want to see exotic animals with your own eyes, go to the savanna, to the North Pole or wherever these animals are. Actually, you can perfectly live without seeing them, it’s not vital for our lives. What for you are just a few hours of entertainment, for these animals is a lifetime in captivity.

Zoos claim that they provide conservation, education and entertainment, but their primary goal is to gain money; that’s a fact. And I don’t think it’s moral to gain money from this situation. These animals have to be free, in their natural habit, not caged for human entertainment. Imagine you are one of these animals and have to spend all your life in a boring cage, doing nothing, not able to see the world, to discover things, just seeing some strange creatures looking at you all the time. Animals in the zoo are sad, miserable, and they don’t deserve to live like this. That’s why I’m against zoos. And I know there are worst places for animals to go, like in an animal circus, for example, but I wanted to talk about zoos because there are people that don’t think these places are bad for the animals, and we all have to be conscious about it.

JOKE

TED TALKS

YOUR BODY LANGUAGE SHAPES WHO YOU ARE

This talk is made by Amy Cuddy, and the main topic of it is the body language. She starts the talk by asking to the people listening to her to take a look of what are they doing right now, what’s their corporal position, because that shows a little bit of their personality.

Then, Cuddy focuses on the nonverbal communication and its importance. She says that we tend to think that the way we look or act only affects how other people see ourselves, but that’s not totally true; it also affects ourselves. To explain that, she talks about the power dynamics, especially she focuses on the nonverbal expressions of power and dominance. Then, she talks about an interesting fact about animals as well as humans: when we want to demonstrate power we tend to expand, open up, take up space. Even when you, for example, win a race and you just feel powerful for ten seconds, you will open your arms to show it. Cuddy says that this type of thing (open your arms when you feel pride) is universal. One thing that caught my attention was that she said that even a person who has born blind and, of course, never has seen somebody do that pose, he/she would still do it if he/she won in a physical competition; because that sign is universal, both in the animal kingdom as well as in humans.

Contrarily, when we feel powerless we do exactly the opposite: we close up, we make us small (both animals and humans).

Afterwards, she moves her theory into a classroom: there are people who you notice them a lot, they speak loud and stand out among the others; contrarily, there are the opposite people, who prefer not to stand out and remain quiet and silent. In fact, this is related to gender: women feel chronically less powerful than men, so they normally are quieter and more calm what it comes to standing out in class. Cuddy figured out that this is also related to participation, the first type of people tend to participate more at class, while the other type nearly speaks. This could be a bad thing in some degrees at College, where participation counts 50% of the mark. So then, Cuddy asked herself a question: could those people who are more insecure to fake being more participative? Basically, can they fake it until they make it?

Therefore, she did an experiment to prove it. She found out that if you force yourself to “feel powerful”, you actually really feel it. The simplest way to do it (and the most effective one) is to adapt a powerful pose during 2 minutes, and that makes you increase your security in yourself. But also it works the other way, if you unintentionally adapt a pose of dominance, your self-confidence will decrease. So she recommends us to, before a job interview or an exam (for example), adopt a powerful pose during 2 minutes in the bathroom, the hallway or wherever you want. That really can help you, make you feel more secure and powerful, and it’s very easy to do.

 

Amy Cuddy finishes her speech by telling us to not just “fake it until you make it”, but to “fake it until you become it”. She says that if you keep doing this little experiment your self-confidence will eventually increase until you will become secure in yourself.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I think this is a very motivating and inspiring speech; Cuddy gives a lot of good advices for feeling more secure in you. Naturally, the quote that I liked the most is: “Don’t fake it ‘till you make it, fake it ‘til you become it”.

NEW WORDS: 

Hunch: Encorbar-se
Tweak: Modificar
Glance: Mirada
Outcome: Resultat


Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are

EMAIL TO MY TEACHER

Dear Lourdes,


My name is Paula Caball, you might remember me because you were my English teacher in first of ESO.

I don’t consider necessary to do a physical description of me, so I’m going to explain who I am. I think it’s difficult to do a brief description of my personality, because I have a lot of things to say. But, in general, I consider myself a positive person, cheerful and talkative. I’m also outgoing and I love meeting new people and being with my friends. I’m a hardworking person too, and that sometimes it’s a bad thing because it makes me be stressed out, especially now that I’m in Batxillerat. Another bad thing that I have is that I worry way too much about things that maybe aren’t very important. Also, I’m very perfectionist, and I like to do everything correctly. Finally, I think I care too much about what the other people think of me, and that shouldn’t be important.

Now, talking about which are my short and long-term goals, I don’t have it very clear, but the first one that I want to achieve is to finish Batxillerat with good grades (the best that I can but trying to not feel too stressed). I also will try to get a scholarship, because I think it’s possible although I know it’s very difficult. To achieve that I will have to study hard, concentrate in class and organize myself very well. I also have some long-term goals, for example one of them is to enter in the degree I want to study in the University and finish it. I also want to keep studying English to finally obtain the Proficiency (CPE) qualification. I would like to learn more languages too, especially French and German, but also some others like Italian, Russian or Chinese. Like most of the people, I want to travel a lot, and I’m sure I will find ways to travel that are not very expensive, because exploring the world is something I force myself to do! For example, I could do an au pair or volunteering in a NGO. Focusing on the people who can help me to stay on track, well, for the short-term goals I think I only need myself, because studying is something that, even though you can need help, you have to do it on your own. About the long-term goals, I also think that I don’t need anyone in particular to help me, but it’s always nice to have somebody by your side, so I think my family and friends could help me, but just to give me support.


“You can’t let your failures define you; you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time.”

This is one of the quotes I liked the most in Obama’s speech. I liked it because it shows that failures aren’t a sign of weakness, it only shows you that you have done something wrong but most of the times if you try harder, change something and keep trying you will achieve your objectives. The most important thing is to never give up.


I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Paula

NEWS

A SUPERMARKET IN DENMARK WHICH FIGHTS AGAINST THE FOOD WASTE

In Copenhagen, Denmark, has opened a new supermarket called WeFood, which sells food, cosmetics and household items that other stores rejected because they are near their expiration dates, had been wrongly labeled or had damaged packaging, but are still legal to sell and safe to consume. This supermarket sells the products 30 to 50 per cent lower than in regular supermarkets.

The supermarket has already been a huge success: the first weeks after the opening, the people have lined up before the store’s opening every morning.

This project has been applauded for a lot of people in Denmark, because this country throws away about 700,000 tons of food every year, according to several estimates. Food waste is one of the principal problems in the world right now. About 795 million people are undernourished globally, according to the World Food Program, but about a third of all the food produced in the world (1.3 billion tons more or less) is lost or wasted each year. The cost of global food wastage is about 1 trillion dollars a year, according to the U.N. Also, wasting food contributes to climate change: producing, distributing, consuming and disposing of food uses significant amounts of energy and water, which causes over 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Nowadays, some European companies and countries are taking steps to battle food waste. In Denmark, if WeFood’s popularity continues, it will open new supermarkets across the country.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I find this a very interesting project, which will help for not wasting so much food. I think it’s ironic how in the developed countries you can find as many food as you want (more than we need) and there are countries all over the world who don’t have enough food to feed their inhabitants. Once I read that with all the food we have at the moment, we could easily end with the hunger in the world twice or three times. That’s impressive, because it makes you think that we have the solution to this problem, but we don’t try enough to solve it.


NEW WORDS:

Surplus: excedent
Shelter: refugi, alberg
Undernourished: malnodrit, desnodrit


Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/denmark-wefood-food-waste_us_56cf5d6fe4b03260bf75fe15

YOUR-SAY

NO MORE GENDER ROLES

I want to share with you a video that I saw a few days ago that I really liked. The video is made by Ariel, a detergent brand, and talks about an issue that still have our society nowadays: rigid gender roles.

The video shows the apologise of a father to his daughter, who lives independently with her husband and her son. The father sees how her daughter is making all the household chores while her husband is sitting comfortably in front of the TV reading a newspaper with a cup of coffee. Then he realises she can’t do it all, and that her husband must help her, but he doesn’t. He also realise that he wasn’t a good example for her, because he was like her daughter’s husband, so the girl saw her mother doing all the household chores and she followed her example. That’s why he apologises, but he also wants to help her to change that. Therefore, he writes a letter apologising for that and then he comes back home. When his wife sees him come back, she quickly wants to take all the clothes to wash them, but the man stops her and decides to do it himself. 

In the past, in most cultures, a woman’s work was to stay at home doing household chores and taking care of the kids. Fortunately, with the pass of time, this has changed and nowadays in most places women have a job like men (even though there are some inequalities that must end), but there are some gender roles that hasn’t been eliminated, and one of them is taking care of the house. This, step by step, is changing, but there are a lot of houses where almost all the household chores are done by the woman. As I said before, this must be eliminated and both men and women have to take care of the house in the same measure.

VIDEO: