FINAL REFLECTION

We did it! 2nd Batxillerat will soon be a part of our past. Even though we're exhausted (and still haven't finished at this exact moment), we can all be proud of ourselves for accomplishing such a great task.

 Back to social life like

When it comes to English, though, we should make a comparison between the level we started with and the level we have now. First of all, let's compare my first post back in 4th ESO, which was the beginning of the "blogs era" in our student life, and my last post in this blog (the blog for batxillerat).

To start, I've noticed that I am able to use a lot more connectors than I could before. You can see: the first, the second, the third... Also, I did really short introductions (or none at all). Though it's not the same kind of post (your say vs. formal letter), you can see the difference in the vocabulary and the gramatical constructions. I realized, too, that I've learned how to organize my ideas better and I'm more able to change them or express them from another perspective.

Trying to figure out how to use connectors

back in 4th ESO.

Let's continue with oral presentations (oh... this is going to be good). This is the very first oral presentation that ended up in a blog in 1st Batxillerat, and this is the last one, in 2nd Batxillerat. When I watch these I realize that there is indeed an improvement in pronunciation. More over, in the last one it seems as if I'm more used to oral presentations (body language and such, even though I still get nervous). On the whole, I prefer the last one.

What about the blog awards? Yes, best post and best oral presentation. For my best post, I'd say Fright Night! because, when I read it, I can imagine myself having a hard time watching a horror movie. I like that this post is quite expressive when it comes to myself, even though I'm basically telling the world how much of a chicken I am.

Moving on, for best oral presentation, I choose the Research Project Oral Presentation. Why? Well, even though my nerves were terrible, I think what makes it special is the fact that I was talking about a topic that I was really into, so I was able to explain myself more openly and not just reading from a paper. The fact that you know how to get the message across the sleepiness and the boredoom during oral presentations is the key for success. The vocabulary was more specific as well, so it was important to use the right words so everyone could understand, thus being more difficult.

Inside a student's mind during an

oral presentation.

As for the future, what is ahead of us? In my case, I'll be taking the First Certificate exam on 11th June and I hope to pass. But that won't be the end, because I intend to get the Advanced Certificate as well, in time, of course. Since last year, most of the movies and TV series that I've watched at home were in English, and also the books I bought but had no time to read. Now I'll continue to use my English and to learn more, using those tools that allow you to increase your knowleadge without you even noticing it. Also, I hope that I could stay abroad for some time, a few months, a year or so (perhaps going back to London? Please???).

If you want to continue learning English

JUST DO IT.

On the whole, I'm happy of all the things that I've learned during high school, and I am really motivated to keep learning English. Hopefully, that will be the case.

And now there's only one task ahead, and that is to have a nice summer holiday!

AN EMAIL TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

To whom it may concern,

I am writing in order to call for a change in favor of freedom of speech which, nowadays, fails to be observed in many places around the world.

If we are supposed to be able to speak our minds, why are so many people (journaliss, writers...) imprisoned, locked up for trying to put out their opinion?

In the majority, if not in all the cases, this injustice happens when brave people call out the government for its bad performance. But this is not how things should be, that is not what I want society to be like. There is a quote that reads: "by cutting out a man's tongue you don't prove that he's wrong, you just prove that you are afraid of what he has to say". And just so you know, I would be interested in what they have to say.

I wish these countries would prove that human rights are guaranteed, I wish they would stop contributing to the misinformation of the whole world by shutting other people up, and I wish I didn't have to write this letter, because that would mean that human rights would always be guaranteed for everyone, and not only with the approval of powerful people.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Jane Parker
221 B, Baker Street.
673 67 42 10
imfromlondon@gmail.com

Education is the key, school is the lock

The other day we watched a video in class. Its title, Education is the key, school is the lock, already gives you a glimpse of what Suli Breaks has to say to the world of education. This video is a critic that wants to open your eyes, telling you that we have a wrong perception of education, and that the system should reconsider what is important for someone to be "educated". here you can see the video:

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Now, there is one specific quote of his that I find interesting.

Redefine how you view education. Understand its true meaning.

I would say that this also sums up the message he wants to transmit. Nowadays we think that education follows the same path for everyone but the truth is that everyone is different. We all have our own needs. Maybe we are more interested in focusing our education on the things that we actually want to dedicate our lives to rather than spending so much time worrying and studying for subjects that we will never put to use. Maybe education can be acquired in different ways, depending on how each person adapts to it. Society wants us all to follow the same system, the same path, but that doesn't work very well for some people. We need to stop thinking that education is a burden that fills our head until it's so full that you don't even know what you want. There are other good ways of education, it doesn't have to be good grades, university then nice career. It just doesn't work like that and I think that Sulli Breaks makes quite a good point in his video.

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Hunt for missing father-of-two who disappeared during a night out on holiday in Turkey

This piece of news was written by Darren Boyle for the Daily Mail online newspaper on the 7th May of 2016.

The news is about the disappearance of Troy Ross, a British 28-year-old father-of-two from Leeds, West Yorkshire. He and his partner, Deanna Willumsen, had flown to Turkey on a holiday for five days. They were staying in the Jiva Beach Resort. On the 28th April, on Saturday, she left the room around 8:30 pm to visit a friend of hers that was also staying at the hotel. When she came back, the room was empty. After checking the CCTV, Troy was seen kicking at the door of the empty room because he had got himself locked out. Later, around 9:30 pm, he was last seen leaving the hotel on his own. 

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After two days, Deanna had to fly back home to take care of their three-months-old son. She still hoped that Troy would be there, thinking that he might have flown back to Leeds sooner than expected in fear of the consequences for breaking the hotel room's door. However, he didn't turn up. Deanna pleads that if he reads the news she only wants to know if he's alright.

Reports say that Troy had left the hotel room without his passport and without his mobile phone. He had taken some cash and her partner's credit cart with him, but authorities haven't found any clue of him using it or of him being attended in any hospital of the area.

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Personally, I think that this is a strange case. First of all, why break the door if he could just go to reception to ask for someone to help him? Then he left with no identification and took money with him. Now that doesn't necessarily have to be suspicious, but i think that there must be more evidences that could be found thanks to the CCTV recordings. Anyways, I hope they find him and that he's well.

VOCABULARY

scaffold: a raised platform for workers and materials.

kick down: to strike with the foot or feet.

lie low: to keep quiet and not be noticed, to avoid being conspicuous.

Monster Canadian fire threatens to DOUBLE in size while more than 80,000 devastated residents are forced to evacuate

This piece of news was written by Associated Press and Clemence Michallon for the Daily Mail online newspaper on the 7th May of 2016.

The news is about the terrible fire that still goes rages on in the area of Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada. The fire started on Friday and its still spreading. More than 80,000 evacuees had to flee their homes because of it and more than 249,571 acres of land have been burnt. It is predicted that the fire will double its size and even grow bigger for the next few weeks. Officers inform of a blaze that has already torched 1,600 homes and buildings and that can only be stopped by rain at this time.

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More than 5,500 people were got to safety by the authorities on Friday, while more than 8,000 left Fort McMurray, with a registration of more than 1,200 vehicles past Wandering River. Some of the evacuees left by plane. The smoke is making some of the evacuation services a bit difficult.

Apparently, the size of the fire is because of Fort McMurray is an area of the oil industry, which has been terribly damaged by the fire, with a quarter of Canada's oil out. It is said that this has already started to be prejudicial for the country's economy.

Many evacuees arrived by plane in Edmonton International Airport (more than 45 flights), feeling lucky after what they had seen. Scott Burrel, an evacuee from a scalfolding plant called Fort Hills, told the journalists how some of the evacuated workers offered food and shelter to the families that arrived from the evacuation.

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Chad Morrison, Alberta's manager of wildfire prevention, said that, despite of the firefighters' job, only rain will be able to stop this blaze. The forecast, however, predict a hot weather with wind on Saturday, which is bad, and a 40 percent of probability for rain on Sunday. so it's not very favourable.

Reports inform that more than 25,000 people fled north, while 80,000 fled south, were authorities have said that they can get better support services. The government has ensured a payement for each evacuee to cover basic needs with a cost of $77 million.

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The cause of the fire that started on Tuesday hasn't been discovered yet, but it could be by lightning. Canada has lost a lot of oil sands land and the fire has already burnt a big part of Alberta's territory.

Personally, I think that this is really sad. The destruction of wildlife and of people's homes is always terrible, and fire is one of the things that can damage the most. It's a pity that the fire is so big that they can't stop it if it doesn't rain. It makes me wonder if more help from firefighter services, even if they were from another province, department or from volunteering could help more to extinguish it sooner before it burns a lot more land.

Link to the video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3576805/Canadian-convoy-waits-dawn-hoping-flee-wildfire-zone.html#v-1420596104547382803

VOCABULARY

wildfire: a large fire that spreads rapidly and is hard to put out.
blaze: a bright flame or fire.
ensuing: to follow in order.

China: Detained Activist, Journalist Denied Needed Health Care

This piece of news was published in Human Rights Watch on the 6th May of 2016. 

The news is about the negligence of political prisoners' health in China. Guo Feixiong and Gao Yu's are feared to be sick and with really poor medical conditions. Authorities know about this but still they let them unattended, even when China is a party in the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Sophie Richardson, China's director, informs against the cruelty and the human right's violation that prisoners are suffering in Chinese prisons, reporting that they let them get sick and some of them even die in without appropiate health care.

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Guo Feixiong (whose real name is Yang Maodong) was accused for gathering crowds against social order, as the article reads, because he took part in more than one demonstration standing up for freedom of speech. He is serving a six-year penalty and when his sister Yang Maoping, a doctor herself, went to visit him, he noticed he was sick. Even if both Guo and her sister asked the officers for a medical check for Guo, they refused.

Guo Feixiong

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On the other hand, Gao Yu is a 72-year-old woman who's a journalist and has been imprisoned more than once for leaking risky documents that compromised the government and, specially, the Chinese Communist Party. Gao suffers from many illneses and has had a turbulent medical health that has only been aggravated by the restrictive control of the Chinese authorities, even if she's in medical parole in her house.

Gao Yu

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The news also reports another case, Cao Shunli's, a grass roots activist that died of a coma after telling her lawyer that officers wouldn't grant her medical treatment even when it was possible that she had tuberculosis and liver disease.

Also, monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche died in prison in 2015 after being there for 13 years with reported bad health conditions and torture.

China has been criticized in the Convention Against Torture because of this matter. Letting prisoners die of medical negligence violates the rule 24 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, so their actions are against human rights.

Personally, I think that it's awful that Chinese authorities send anyone who speaks against them to prison, but what is worse is that they purposely let them die in prison. I find it such a lack of humanity to have signed in favor of the defense of human rights while still allowing a torture like this. It's really disappointing and we shouldn't let this happen, anywhere in the world.

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VOCABULARY

parole: the release of a person from prison before the end of the sentence imposed, with a promise or condition that no more crimes will be commited.

grass roots: the common or ordinary people, as constrasted with the leadership or elite of a political party, social organization, etc.

lymph: a clear, yellowish fluid in the blood that contains special blood cells that fight infection.

Scenography

When going to the cinema or watching a movie at home, we mostly think of how great the story was, or how good was the actors performance. For the past two years, though, I discovered a hidden passion that I didn't knew I had, but that had always been there, and that is scenography and production design in general.

Did you see how great did the place look? Oh, the costumes, how beautiful! Always the same, binge watching the "behind the scenes" part of my DVDs at home. In my opinion, a movie without a good production design behind, specially those who need to show an original setting, can't be a good movie. The atmosphere and the aesthetics of the film have to work well together. That also applies to the period of time that we decide to set the stoy in. For example, you can't make a good film settled in the city of Paris in the 18th century if you don't know 1) how the place was back then, and 2) how society was back then. You can't let those things slip, you have to master them, because they give the film its true essence.

The Panthom of the Opera was great

Without a good setting, there's no way a good story can develop. In fact, there are films whose camera cuts revolve around the will to show things that tell us more about the story than just the plot itself. Details can speak of many things, things that are left unsaid in movies, but that can tell us a parallel story of how that world is. This concept that relates space and time with the story that is being told is called chronotope, and I actually used it a lot when I was doing my research paper about the fantasy worlds in young adult literature (if you notice, I chose this because, in a way, it had to do with scenography).

This one had a really interesting

production design

Now I'll show you some examples of movie sets that I really like and that have a lot of hard work and art behind.

Let's start with Crimson Peak!

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And then we have Anna Karenina! In this film, the majority of the set is a theatre, to represent that the lives of the Russian aristocracy are just like performing on a stage for each other!

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There are many films whose scenography is great and I could talk about them for hours but these are the two that I came up with! 

Personally, I think that scenography is a great art that combines a lot of things, while allowing to narrate different stories all at once. It's beautiful the way that we can craft stories to real life by giving them a space to really expand and show their true essence.