My ENGLISH PROGRESS from 2013-2015

It's so fun, because one week ago, I was not inspirited to do some extra-post for getting higher grades, and I decided to search among my blog drafts. I wanted to use them, so I corrected them. That way I realized about my improvement.

Well, this would be my frist post, but I didn't posted it, because I directly sent it to my teacher:

Hey, teacher! I’m Ana and I’m 17. This year was the first time that there wasn’t some “Ana” in my class. Well… until you arrived. I think that this year, my classmates will drive me crazy, because when them call you, I think that them are calling me.

I’m from Sant Pere Pescador, but I hope that we will move out to Empuriabrava. Why? Because I love changes. I don’t like the routine, and I’m tired of Sant Pere Pescador. My love for the changes is very important, because I think that it’s the most important characteristic of my personality. In the future, I just want to travel around the world. I want to learn and try to understand a lot of different cultures. This last summer I didn’t work. This summer I just have enjoyed it with my friends, meeting with them, doing a lot of sport, and becoming “Open water diver” in diving world. So I don’t have too much things to explain about it.

About my experience as an English learner, I have to say that I’m so proud. Well, I think that I improved so much my English since 3th of ESO. I can write a composition without the help of a dictionary (well, maybe some words… but not much words), and I love write in English. But I have a problem. When I’m doing an exam, I get very nervous and I do a lot of stupid mistakes.

About the differences...

Personal pronouns: I was using “them” (object) instead of “they” (subject).

Using wrongly some verb tenses. Infinitive (TO write)/Present Perfect (I have improved).

I analyzed the content, the structure and the language, and with the help of the grids, I graded my own text. The grade would be 7'7. The structure is well done, but as I said, I did some grammar mistakes. About the vocabulary, I use expressions like “Drive me crazy”, conditionals...

So, as a conclusion, I see differences between my first post and my last post.

INTO THE WILD

I'm so excited because four days ago, my baby arrived at home. Now, it's official. I've got the book “Into the wild”, in English. I have to wait until the summer arrives, because now I'm to busy with the school stuff. But I'm sure: The book is gonna be with me every day of this summer, and I want to read it, and read it, and read it again.

Moreover, I've found a perfect summer job. I'm going to work at the scuba diving center as the underwater-photographer. I'm so happy about that, because I'm gonna work on something that I really love.

Letters to heaven

Dear mum;

I'm packing up my things. Some clothes, my toothbrush, one book for reading while we are on the road, my camera... When everything is ready, I finally go to sleep. Tomorrow starts our little adventure, road ahead. I can't wait for it.

The guys picked me up at nine o'clock at my house. We arrived to our destiny 4h later. The roadtrip has been amazing. We sing a lot of songs because Marco, who plays the guitar, brought his songs to the trip. He wanted to show them to us. All were love songs. Marco is the romantic friend, so his love songs were not a surprise.

I really miss you. I'm doing it, mum. The adventure just started.

PS: I love you.

PIECES

Waiting under the moon's sight. It's like time has been stopped. I just wanna go far away. I just wanna lose myself, road ahead.

That amazing feeling, when you can't stop thinking about that short escape. Yeah, maybe it's too much short. But that's better than nothing. And besides it, I'm pretty sure that seeing her, hugging her, traveling with her special family will be fantastic.

He was in her room by the first time. The guy just looked the big map above her bed. In the map, there were some red little thumbtacks. He smiled to her.

She's awake. She's still awake. She misses him by her side. The bed is too big without him. She can't understand why him. She hates that drunk driver, she hates the wet highway, she hates death.

Endings meaning startings

Okay. I'm just too sleepy. I can't believe it! We are on our final exams. Yeah. Stressed, nervous, anxious, needing to sleep like for one week at least. Everything is messed up in my head. What I've done, what I have to do, what I need to think about (basically, about what can I do after ending my school year)... Well. Pretty annoying, and probably the worst two weeks of my entire life. All the pressure, the classes, the exams... It's like if I hadn't time to even breath.

But in the other hand... All this endings, mean starting. Yeah. Summer is starting. A new life is starting. New motivations, new people, new places, new experiences... Waiting for me. I just need to survive these two hard weeks, and then... SUMMER PARADISE. Just the sun, the sea and me. It sounds like heaven, doesn't it?

The rain song

It's a rainy day. I can feel the smell of rain stocking my pale skin. The street is empty and I love that... I'm listening The Rain Song of Lez Zeppelin. The song's lyrics are beautiful, and very special. I walk this empty street, full of puddles. My shoes are wet and my feet are cold, but I like this feeling. The cold reminds me that is winter is coming, but I'm okay with that. I enjoy every season of the year. I decide to go back home. I want to watch a movie, with popcorn and with my cozy blanket.

SAMANTHA

The sound of my phone, wakes me up. What time is it? I don't know. I open the closet, and I put on my blue jeans, my white sweater and my converse. I take my camera and I go to the kitchen, where my mum is having breakfast.

- Good morning sweetie!

- Good morning mum. I'm going to take a walk. See you later!- I shout while I'm opening the door.

The street is plenty of people, each one with it's own thoughts. I walk between them, without destination. I take some different photos, but I'm not inspired, so I decide to go to the beach. The beach is empty, because the winter is coming. I'm bored, so I sit down in the cold sand.

I'm taking photos of the ocean, when I listen a voice whispering next to me: "Good one". I turn my head to the left and then I see him. A boy, 18 years old more or less, dark-haired, with the darkest eyes I ever seen.

- Thanks, but I don't speak with strangers. So go away, please. Don't disturb me.

- Woooow. I only want to say you that I think that you are a very good photographer... But it doesn't matter. Bye Sam.

Wait, wait, wait. How can this boy know my name? I don't understand anything. When I try to ask him how he know my name, he's not there.

NIGHTMARE

I'm afraid. I don't understand anything. I need you, but you don't need me. I'm lost in a thick forest. I wear black shorts, with a dirty white T-shirt. I find a stream, and I cross it. My clothes and my worn out converse are wet. I have cold. I run. But then, in front of me, I see a little girl. She has blond long hair, pale skin, and she wears a pretty white dress. She gets close to me. Slowly. I fall on my knees. She raises her hand, and caresses my face. She gives me the most beautiful smile that I never seen. But then, her face becomes horrible. Her skin is rotten, and she is crying. Her tears are blood. She screams my name, and her voice is very low. I am scared. She hold my arm, and stain me of blood.

I open my eyes. I'm in my bed-room. It was a nightmare. I wake up and I go to my bathroom. I wash my face, and I see that.

My arm is spotted with blood.

Staring at the Sun

Here I am. Oh... the best place in the world. It's magic: the sound of the sea, the sound of the seagulls, the water touching my barefooted feet.

I'm so happy. I feel the sun caressing my cheeks. The summer just begin, and it means: RELAX, FREEDOM, HAPPINES... No more exams, no more homework, no more oral presentations. JUST RELAX.

I'm sitting on the sand, forgetting all my problems. But suddenly, one pretty little girl says to me:

- Hello!

She is blonde, pail, with enormous blue eyes... Her long blonde hair reminds me the sun. She's like a little angel.

- Sun, please! Don't disturb this girl! - Shouts her mother.

Sun. Her name is SUN. Isn't it Ironic. She gives me the biggest smile that I ever seen. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

It will be a different summer. It will be THE SUMMER. I know that because the Sun had smiled me.

The girl that made her home between the books.

From my point of view, there is a reason for everything. All the people you meet along your life teaches you something. There are people who teaches you that you can't trust nobody. But there are people who teaches you a lot of good things.

Three years ago I met a different kind girl. She thinks that each one of us are good. But the society sully this goodness. And she didn't had an easy kind of life. But she's a fighter, and really strong.

Lyla is an artist. She paints, she plays the guitar, and she writes. Creativity is her second surname. Well... She writes the best little stories of the whole world. She inspires other people with it's own inspiration. She transform the normal onto the spectacular.

Well... She's an intelligent, pretty, interesting, mysterious, and different girl. She made her home between the books. I'm sure that she is gonna be a famous writer of best sellers.

Amelia and the animals

Yep. I've chosen again an article that talks about photography. And also, I really love animals. So I found it, and I couldn't miss that. I needed to show this immediately.

This article talks about the story of Robin Schwartz, one special photographer. She took her first photograph of an animal at ten years old. She really like animal's world. She cannot survive without animals.

Her assistant on the shoots is her thirteen-year-old daughter, Amelia, who is also the subject of Schwartz’s body of work “Amelia’s World,” a magical portrait stretching over eleven years, where Amelia appears with a lot of different animals—the largest is an elephant and the smallest is a Cotton-Top Tamarin. Schwartz is a professor of photography at William Paterson University, in New Jersey. In this article, she answers an interview, so there is a lot of information reallly interesting.

My favorite ones:

New words:

Annie Leibovitz's celebrity Disney dream portraits

As you may know, I'm in love with photography. It's not just capturing pictures what I like... I really love editing that shots with my PC. So the editing work with this amazing photographs, taken by Annie Leibovitz, and her original ideas just attracted my attention.

Well, that short article talks about Annie Leibovitz's photos. She has been capturing pictures of some celebrities representing some Disney characters, as a part of her collection of Disney Dream Portraits. A photo of Jessica Chastain as the princess Merida from the film “Brave” has been her latest addition to her original collection. Along the article, it explains more curiosities about her work.

My favorite pics are:

Taylor Swift as Rapunzel

Russell Brand as Captain Hook

New words:

Women's cause

C/Sant Joan 19º, 1º 1ª

Lleida
17487
14th April 2015

GLOBAL NETWORK FOR RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT

Avenida de las Cortes Valencianas, 39, planta 13 letra D,

46015

Valencia, Spain

To whom it may concern

I'm writing to file a complaint about the sexism ideas that still remain in our society. I wish someone would stop the massive propagation of that sexist ideas. All that mums that are taking care of her children while working, all the women that are the responsible for cleaning the house, Skinny models in fashion shows, lower salaries for the women, people even use “like a girl” as an insult.... Actually, I can write a long list of cases that prove the currently sexist ideas in our society. I think that's outrageous. So please, do something to stop that.

We suffer the period once a month, we carry the baby during 9 months, and finally we suffer in the birth. We are not weak. We don't diserve all this sexism. We shall be lauded by all the men in the world.

Yours sincerely, Ana Angulo Sánchez.

Russia turns blind eye to homophobic violence

That piece of news talk about the fact that Russia turns blind eye to homophobic violence. So that doesn't complains with many human rights; The freedom and equality right, the legal recognition right, the legal equality right and the social security right. Along the video, some victims of different homophobic crimes explain their horrible experiences. It's awful, and the images are so hard and disturbing. The existence of that type of people, which humiliate and torture lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and activists, is not the worst. The worst of all, is that the Russian government are not doing nothing about it, and that it's laws are so homophobic.

Well, Spain turns blind eye to homophobia too. Not at that level, but there is also too much homophobia in our country. Mostly at the little towns.

All that homophobia should be stopped. Immediately.

New words:

HUMAN RIGHTS

1. What are human rights?

Human rights are the rights you have simply for being human.

2. When and why were they created?

They were created in 1948.

3. How many human rights are there?

There are 30 human rights.

4. Which human right were you not familiar with?

I didn't know about the right to play. That's because I've never thought about “playing” as a right. Possibly, it's because I think that playing is something natural. It's like a “Right for breath”. I mean, that's obvious, doesn't it? In what type of world would we live if we didn't have the right to play?

An example where that right would be violated; Some kids are playing football in the park, when a girl arrives. She wants to play with them, but they reject her. They say that girls can't play football.

In the other hand, an example where that right would be respected; The same situation, but the girl plays football with the other kids.

Disney Princesses with Realistic Hair

I know that maybe this article is too short, but I think that's worth it. It talks about an artist that re-imagined Disney Princesses with realistic hair.

I remember that when I was little, my mother took some photos of me at the beach. I was really excited, because in my mind, I was like the Little Mermaid Ariel. With my hair roughed by the air. Well... few weeks after coming back from our holidays at the beach, my mother developed the photos. And yes, I was there, with a perfect mermaid position at the beach, but covered by the sand, and with my wet hair fixed against my cheeks. It was so disappointing.

So, when I found this article, I decided to talk about it in my blog. My favorite one is the Little Mermaid with her wet hair. But also, I really liked the Snow-white's one. I've got curly hair, so I perfectly understand her situation.

Finding Peace in Nature

This article talks about the photographer Elizabeth Gadd who captures the beauty of getting lost in nature. Moreover it's an interview where the young lady explains what inspires her work, how does shooting in nature affect her photos or even what she hopes viewers take away from her photographs.

I think that's a really interesting interview, because it's a new type of photography, a new style which is amazing and which results are really awesome, and it could be interesting for anybody, even if you aren't interested on photography. Her photos are magical, special.

It's not one woman more taking photos to anyone else. Is the connection between the nature and the photographer what infects the pics with magic. That's what makes special Elizabeth Gadd.

I've chosen this piece of news because, as you might know, I do love photography. Elizabeth’s photos really shocked me, and I just wanted to know more about that special photographer.

Here some Elizabeth photos:

A Pause in the City That Never Sleeps

That piece of news explains the brilliant idea of showing the face of a man yawning in Times Square, in the city that never sleeps. So each January's night, at 11:57pm until midnight, Times Square's electronic billboards will show a continuous yawn. Every person that saws it, will be infected and will need to yaw. He/she will infect another person and that's a way to spread this moment of pause trough the city.

So the beauty of Sebastian Errazuriz's piece is it attempt to induce a contagious moment of calm and pause above all the city.

To conclude, I'm in love with the idea and ,obviously, just watching the pics when I was chosen the perfect one for my post, I yawned.

Therapy

Some days you need to get lost. You need to forget who you are. You need to be another person with no problems, with another thoughts. So, you can watch a movie or read a book. Or you can watch a lot of movies and also read a lot of books.

This weekend, I needed this kind of days. Maybe you don't understand it. Maybe you think I’m a little bit crazy. But it was a perfect weekend. Just me, my PC, my cozy blanket and my coffee in my bed-room. It's the kind of things that can save you from yourself.

Taylor Swift's genius new tactic for avoiding the paparazzi

That piece of news talks about Taylor Swift's new tactic for avoiding the Paparazzi.

It's a simple tactic that consists on walking backward with the help of her bodyguard for avoiding the photographers that were waiting outside for her to emerge from her friend's house in LA. That hilarious new tactic stump the paps, and besides: ¡It worked pretty well! The photographers were left only with pics of Taylor's backside, which are useless.

Moreover it explains another tactics by other famous people to avoid the paps. My favorite one, is Daniel Radcliffe's tactic. He wore the same outfit for five whole months. The paps get annoyed and stopped taking photos of him.

I've chosen that piece of news because it's so hilarious. I found it by twitter and It really made me laugh.

People are more than their disabilities.

This piece of news talks about a woman with rare muscle disorder that stood up to a rude restaurant employer. Brittany Adler, who has a condition called Dystonia (she has abnormal muscle contractions), was ordering at a restaurant with a friend. Because of her disease the cashier couldn't understand her order and instead of asking her again, he walked away.

After that situation, Brittany and her friend left the restaurant really confused and just went to another restaurant. There, Brittany wrote a letter, which one she took back to the first restaurant where she had been ignored. Then, the cashier apologized.

As a conclusion I've chosen this piece of news because I think that there are too much intolerant people who should change it's mind, because people are more than their disabilities. Brittany is a beautiful girl worthy of admiration.

Opinion essay: Chance and love versus prenuptial agreements.

I can't talk about the advantages of signing a prenuptial agreement, basically because I think that's something stupid. The idea of signing a prenuptial agreement attempts against love. It doesn't matter if it's practical because in my opinion, it absolutely breaks the magic of love.

What is a relationship without discussion? You can't agree with every thing. And when you love someone, the disagreement are something that have to be overcomed by the couple.

So a prenuptial agreement is stupid because if you love the other person it will be useless and if you stop loving him you have to face it.

Noa!

When we were in 4^th of ESO, we did a special topic: the Gap Year. We really liked it, and we dreamed about our future travels.

Well.. Some weeks ago we talked with an old student from our high school, Noa, that have been working as a babysitter in Australia for almost a year. She works just at the mornings, and she have all the afternoon to meet with her friends and discover the amazing city of Sydney (I'm sure that she looks for Nemo on her free-time.)

We talked with her by Skype, and it was so strange to see her again. Two years ago, she was on my class. I remember her a little bit more pail... She explained how dangerous is to expose your skin to the sun, that you have to be really careful. She's really happy (and really tanned, what causes envy), and she answered all the questions we had prepared.

I really enjoyed this activity because I would like to do something like this. Moreover I think that everyone should do it once in life.

Self evaluation of the Oral Presentation

I've lost the video of my Oral Presentation because my phone have been giving problems. But I think that it's not necessary seeing the video to conclude that I need to get better my oral English. I think that I should control myself better for the oral presentation of the third term, and enjoy more this activity.

I think that I was nervous because I failed my project, and I wasn't sure about what I was talking about. The topic disturbed me a little bit.

Language 20%: I need to improve my oral English.

Presentation 10%: I think that was understandable and cute.

Body language and eye contact 10%: I was really nervous, I need to

work on that.

0,5

Structure 10%: It was well organized.

Content 40%: It was interesting and I think that my classmates enjoyed it.

Final mark: 6,5

Dialogue podcast!

Willow and Jaden Smith

I've chosen this piece of news because Will Smith's children really impressed the world with that interview. I read about it in twitter, so I wanted to know what happened with this two amazing siblings.

Well, along the interview, they talk about really interesting things. For example, they talk about their experience of time. They think that how the time moves depends on your awareness and your self-confidence. Moreover they talk about the themes they recur in their music work, like the melancholiness of the ocean. Also, they talk about how they have gotten better by caring less what everybody thinks, sometimes even caring less about what your own mind thinks about yourself. Besides, they talk about their process writting songs and about Prana energy.

My opinion:

It freaks me out. They are two kids, but they talk like if they were adults. I really enjoyed the interview, and I think that this two kids are really special.
My favorite moments:

JADEN: "That’s another thing: What’s your job, what’s your career? Nah, I am. I’m going to imprint myself on everything in this world."

WILLOW: "That’s what art is, shocking people. Sometimes shocking yourself."

New words:

Let's made it up with love.

Yesterday was St Valentine's day. I tend to hate all the commercial days like Black Friday, for example. So my opinion about St Valentine's day couldn't be different.

Maybe I hate it the most. Why? Well... because it's one more commercial day made up with love, and is not the lover's day. It's a commercial excuse to sell stupid and useless things and also, too sell out the people who don't believe in this mind control but that has to buy something to the manipulated person she/he loves.

I know what you are thinking about. No, I've no boyfriend. But it's not because I'm single that I hate St Valentine's day. I'm sure that me and my future boyfriend will be a perfect couple against the materialism and the consumerism who will stay at home to watch a film and eat popcorn.

Research paper abstract!

This research paper is about photojournalism during the civil war. I have chosen three different photographers: Agustí Centelles, Català-Roca and Xavier Miserachs.

Basically, my project consists of two different sections. On the one hand there is the theoretical part where I have gathered information about the historical context and the photographers biographies. On the other hand there is the practical part, where you can find the photographic analysis, and where I tried to recreate some photo ideas criticizing the current society.

When words fail, music speaks...

And suddenly my mind turned black. No words. No thoughts. Just nothing. My heart was broken. Broken in thousand pieces. He never loved me. He never owned to me. But he was an important piece in my stupid puzzle called life. Not an unremarkable piece. Of course, in a puzzle all the pieces are important. But he was the last one. The last piece that would complete my puzzle, my life.

_______________________________________________________________________________

She was brushing her teeth when he knocked the door. She, impatiently, went to open it. The guy smiled at her, and when he was going to say hello, the girl grabbed the guy's hand, and guided him through her house up to her bed-room.

To be continued...

Cool deep T-shirts

I wanted to do something a little bit more different with my last "news" post. Firstly, I'm going to write without looking for some words in the dictionary, and without Internet's help. Well.. this article is really short, but the writer uses idioms and also it's really funny. So I hope you enjoy it.

My favourite one.

Thisarticle talks about the Japanese clothes, made to replicate American clothes. But as the writer says, some languages just weren't meant for each other. This article gathers some clothes found in the Japanese shops. The T-shirts have a lot of mistakes, or just say nonsenses.

I've chosen this article because it reminds me to Sonia, because she takes a photo of cool T-shirts with beautiful messages. If she saw this, she would laugh at this not pretty cool T-shirts.

Hit the nail on the head: Dar en el clavo
Replicate: Copiar
Sail: Tierra

Páginas

Well, Spain turns blind eye to homophobia too. Not at that level, but there is also too much homophobia in our country. Mostly at the little towns.

I know that maybe this article is too short, but I think that's worth it. It talks about an artist that re-imagined Disney Princesses with realistic hair.