Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas! I hope you have a happy holidays with your family and friends and an amazing New Year!

I also hope that Santa give you a lot of gifts tonight , so I made a little video with the song "Santa Claus is coming to town", singed by Frank Sinatra.

It's just a little Christmas Carol video to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

See you next year, and I hope you like it!

The digital Story of Nativity (or Christmas 2.0)

This original viral video has probably already reached you through Facebook or some other social network, but I thought it was cool so I'm embeeding it here.

Reported Speech

Here we have 3 great power point presentations created by a teacher called Antonio Romero who very generously uploaded them in Slideshare for everybody to use. I'm sure we can all benefit from it.

We'll be looking at:

1. Reported speech statements
2. Reported speech questions and suggestions
3. Reported speech commands

Reported Speech I: Statments

View more presentations from Antonio Romero.

Reported Speech III: Questions and Suggestions

View more presentations from Antonio Romero.

Reported Speech II: Commands

View more presentations from Antonio Romero.

If you feel you need to revise verbal tenses, please see related posts below:

• Grammar exercises online for further practice (1st term)
• Future tenses: explanatory video on YouTube
• Past verbal tenses
• Verbal tenses revision chart

Funny answer-phone message

This week’s homework assignment is a video related to education.

This is a real answer-phone message of a school in Australia, but thanks to the video you can read the transcript of what is being said  in the message. 
The first 30 seconds is an explanation of the context in which the message was created and then you can listen to the message itself.

It is thought-provoking and funny from the content point of view, but also it is full of interesting language and collocations from the linguistic point of view. I hope you can benefit from it, next class you can tell me any interesting vocabulary you wrote down. 

Feel free to leave a message below! 

How would you describe this message? Realistic? Exaggerated? Cynical? Ironic? Do parents justify too many things about their children? Do your own parents easily justify your absences or used to do so when you were younger? What do you think?

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Vocabulary work:

1. a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for...
2. teacher's are being sued by parents
3. failing grades / passing grades
4. automated message
5. make excuses
6. to swear at staff members
7. raise your child
8. the teacher's fault
9. your child's lack of effort
10. move to another country

The Lady Gaga Phenomenon

This week in Vilaweb newspaper there is an article about "The Lady Gaga Phenomenon".

Do you like her? Would you have liked to be in Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona last week?

Men should do 50% of housework

As far as I am concerned, most of the women wish their husband would help with housework. As I see it, the men should do it.

Firstly, I think in today’s society, there is equality of the sexes, women works like men. Now, women aren’t the ones who only do the housework but they have had such huge change as well. They earn money too, sometime they earn more than men! They share house spendings with their husbands, so it is clear that the husband must help their wife to do their housework. Furthermore, I believe that doing the housework is really simple.

Secondly, in my opinion, they are also having the responsibility to do it because he is a family member. If the husband has time, most of the wifes hope they will help them. If men love their wifes enough, they won’t leave their wife doing a lot of housework alone afterward women work hard.

To sum up, if men love their wifes enough, they should do some housework. Don’t let the women get so tired!!

My opinion about FaceBook

The social networking world is getting bigger, actually, each time everything is being computerized and everything is shared online; photos, music, videos, etc.

FaceBook is one of the most popular social networking, along with Twitter, but each has different aspects that stand out. FaceBook, its purpose was to share your pictures with your friends, so that they could comment on your pictures. With the growth of this great FB company, has also grown and evolved, now not only to share and discuss your photos and those of your friends, you can now share videos, play games, organize parties, chat and many things that I have not discovered or that I didn't mentioned yet.

I'm an active user of Facebook, but not only of FB, also of other social networks, because FB only plays a role and it does pretty well. As I mentioned, their role is to share pictures, but not only share and its ok, you can tag your friends in pictures, create albums, organize, etc. Although it has interesting features for me is a bit ... dull.

Now I will compare it with another social network, where I'm very active; it is Plurk. Although It has different functions, I want to mention that Plurk is more entertaining, I mean, you can earn "Karma" and when you get 100 "Karma", you are like a veteran in Plurk, whereas in FB you don't earn anything, you could be considered your friends as points, but I don't see the point in adding people that you didn't know, and consider them like your friends.

I guess on this side, I believe that FB is boring, because there is some competition to reach a level. Also, I must stress that the social networks that I have compared, Plurk and FB, have different functions.

To sum up, FB does what it has to do, a social network to share your memories captured with your camera and comment on such moments, but still missing something that will make it better.

My Ideal Home

The house where I live now, it's not very large, but it's comfortable, welcoming, I have everything that I need and it's my home, but of course it is never enough.

When I have my own home, I would have a normal house, not too big, not very small, normal size, It should have 3 rooms, one for me, one for guests and the last would be my place of work or study, also a living / dining room, a kitchen, a washing room and, of course, the bathroom.

The location, I wish it were in constant contact with society and the city. Close to all necessary places, supermarkets, clinics, shopping centers, public transport, etc. Because, if I need something urgent, or go somewhere, I have all that I want near me.

In addition to a good location in the city, it would also be great if the house was close to my workplace. I would not spend money on public transport or fuel (if I have car).

Furthermore, for me, my ideal home would be a place with everything you need close, but it is clear, if I want to relax and have fun it would be better the mountains or the beach. To live, I'd be much better in the city.

My First Date

My first date was 4 years ago, I was 13 and I was in high school, I was still living in Peru.

I met a girl who lived in the same area as my cousin, we started talking and became friends; from that moment I began to like her.
One day I called her home and she answered, I talked with her for a while and I wanted to ask her out and go to the cinema, spent a few minutes and I told her. She accepted I was really excited; we arranged to meet for the Friday in the afternoon of that week.

When the day came, I was really nervous, I wanted to go, but at the same time I didn’t, because I wanted to tell her my feelings, until I get the mood and I went.
We went to the cinema and we saw a comedy movie, we had fun watching the movie, then we went to eat at a fast food restaurant and we spoke, we walked down the street and we started to fool around until we kissed. After that we didn't say anything and I accompanied her home and I left.

A few days later we were chatting in Messenger and I told my cousin that she was the girl that I liked, he told me that I should tell her something, even he told me words to say her. I told her that and she agreed to be my girlfriend.
We dated almost 1 and a half year, we finished well, and now we are good friends.

Opinions of London

London is one of the most visited cities by tourists.But what to do like about London? Can we identify the main problems they have while visiting the city?

There are several positive things that tourists mention. For example, night life is excellent. There are world famous musicals, classical orchestras plus concerts for all musicals tastes.There are many places to eat and a great variety of international food,too. Travel in the capital can be expensive,although there are the cheap saver tickets, especially for families.

However, there are many things which tourists would like to improve. For example, the accommodation is expensive but this is probably the same in all capitals. Tourists not always feel safe. Public transport costs more and they think the underground is old and expensive.

To sum up, on the one hand tourists find London an exciting capital city with lots of things to do and see.On the other hand, they think it's too expensive.

Watching you

Hey guys! I found a really beautiful song about the relationship between a father and son, and I tried to make a great video. I don't know why, but this video was so difficult to make for me, so I'm not really happy with the final result. For this reason, I also will share with you the official videoclip and another video about the characters of Full house (Padres forzosos) Jesse and his twins Nicky and Alex, its a really beautiful video. Well, watch what you prefer! Hope you like it! PS: my video has subtitles in Spanish and English

Mi video:



Videoclip:



A fan video (full house):

Rafa Nadal: From Right to Left

Hi guys!

I found this video a few days ago and I want to share it with you.

This video is about Rafa Nadal, who was close to win the tittle of Master of the tennis but lost against Roger Federer a few days ago. In this video, Rafa talks about how he passed from right-handed to left-handed to play tennis.

The video is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Enjoy!

MY NEIGHBOURHOOD

Living with neighbours can be difficult. We are free to live wherever we want and there are people with different personalities and not always compatible with each other.

In my view, relationships are complicated specially when the neighbourhood is full of different cultures. It's racism, sometimes it's the people who live there and sometimes it's the immigrants, the problem is that both don't respect other cultures. Iwish it weren't so.

When racism doesn't exist, the problems don't disappear. Neighbours will always argue for one reason or another.

I think that people wouldn't have problems, if they understood each other, but it's almost impossible. we should try to live our life and respect the life of others.

HOUSE HUNTERS, YOU'RE LUCKY!

Would yo like to live inn a warm attic in the centre of Badalona?

It's a friendly three-bedroom apartment. It has a bathroom, a kitchen and a spacious living room with a balcony that has a breathtaking view of the beach. Fortunately, during the morning it's very light, especially in spring, because no block of flats is as tall as it.

The block of flats is right in the middle of the town so it's very convenient for public transport, the tube and the train station are a five-minute walk. It's perfectly situated near a lively area of restaurants and shops but it isn't too noisy because it isn't crowded like a city.

This apartment is ideal for a family with two or three children and no problem with pets, the neighbourhood is used to it.

The competiton between Spanish TV channels.

Lately, two of the most important TV channels in Spain have started a war for the audience. They take it so seriously, that they don’t even care to pay a penalty to change the schedule. Personally, I think that this is stupid. Doing this, they just get people confused, and those people don't watch anything because they don't know what is on TV now.

Firstly, TV is for entertainment, not to make people get stressed because they have to be all the time trying to find out what is on TV tonight, or how they can do it to watch their two favourites programs that now are emitted on the same day.

At first, channels just took care to put a new programme the day that it could compete with the programme from the other channel. But now, this has become a total obsession. For example, the channel Telecinco, changed the broadcast programme the day before so as to compete with the other channel.

Secondly, and for me the most worrying, channels try to make new programs like programs that have more viewers on the other channel. The bad thing is that the programs with more viewers are the “heart” programs. In these programs there are "journalists" talking about people's personal life, who sometimes go there voluntarily and earn money to talk about their own life.

As I see it, they should be ashamed because they just make trash TV and that is making kids irrespectful to the other people.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm so tired to see every day the same programs, programs that I hate actually, and see that there isn’t anybody who does something to change that, except one or two programs that in fact have even been denounced by those channels. We have to make something to change it.

In conclusion, TV channels are only concerned to make more and more money, and they forget that there are things more important like being a good example for kids.

A NIGHTMARE JOURNEY

A few days ago, I had to go to school but I woke up so late. I had to run but I was late. When I arrived no one was waiting at the door, which was closed. I realized that It was holiday and I didn't have to go to school until the next day.

Afterwards, when I decided to come back, it started to rain. I didn't have an umbrella and the bus stop was near. When Ihad walked a few minutes Ilooked into my wallet, I didn't have enough money for the bus. I went home on foot and when Iarrived I was completely wet.

That night was the worst night in my life, I caught a bad cold. The next day I couldn't go to school and all this because I'm very clumsy.

A week holiday break in March

This year a new law been passer in Catalunya that adds a week holiday in the second quarter, in return we start the course a week earlier in September.
That is good news because the second quarter is the longest quarter of the entire school year and this is the one which has got less festivities for students to enjoy a relaxing day apart from the weekends. This week is a good opportunity to relax and re-start the quarter with ne forces that will be useful for students so as not to be so tired mentally and they will be able to study with more agility and they will be able to get better marks.
Besides, the fact that they take us away a week from three consecutive months doesn't affect us too much but that they placed this week in mid-year after many months of study may involve the change between stress and lower marks and relax and better marks.
Despite this, this reform also has negative things.
In Barcelona, the week holiday is in March and a few weeks after it there are Easter holidays, while in the rest of Catalunya this week is in February and therefor the quarter is more streamlined.
Besides, only students and teachers enjoy this week but not parents. If both parents work they have a big problem to deal with their children during the week holiday break.
In brief, I think it is a good measure for students but I wish this week would be more centralized in the quarter and it would be in mid-February instead of March.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/spa/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html

I want to share with you all this video that I have found in the web. The topic of this video is the social networks, I leave this video so that you can see it.

I hope that you like, it treats about how social media can do history.

MY OPINION ABOUT FACEBOOK

Nowadays everything is easier with new technologies, we can communicate with foreign friends, share our photos, experiences...
But what about social networks, specifically Facebook?

I would say that Facebook was set up by Mark Zuckerberg in order to connect with family and friends. This social network is spreading more, specially among teenagers.

Personally I think Facebook is fairly important, we can do anything online of all issues but we must be careful with privacy, we aren't famous but If we aren't in control of our privacity, strangers will be able to see our photos, our wall, publications as well.
I wish is didn't happen!

In my view, we should all pay attention to the small print in social network's contract, even if we're busy.
It's widely known that there are people who spend a lot of time in front of the computer. As I see it, it isn't suitable, we can enjoy more meeting our friends.

To sump up, I want to recommend the Facebook's film to people if they are interesting about this matter.
It's worth watching!!

My composition by Desi Her

Currently, education is compulsory until the age of sixteen. However, the government is considering raising the age to eighteen.In my view, it's not a good idea for teenagers.

If this idea continues, they way reveal. I belive, many students do not want to study at college, although is a unique experience un life and very importan for your future career. I with everyone had the opportunity to attend it. Moreover, there were people that could not be forced to stay in school.

It is a well known fact that, If the govern continues, it will home adverse events. In addition, If they had stated this idea it would have begun later in the working world. Unless the government acts quickly, and approves this idea. As long as we are aware of the problem the situation will improve.

To sum up, the present school-leaving age is practical and efficient. In fact, these students can begin vocational training earlier. For these reasons, personally, I think that it should not change.

Description my House

The house we are living in is situated in the city of Badalona, We have lived there for more than ten years. This is a fairly large house surrounded with a luxurious garden.

My house consists of four bedrooms, a living-room, a bathroom with a shower, a dining-room, a kitchen and a toilet. It is air-conditioned and well-furnished. The living-room is decorated beautifully. There, on Sundays and holidays my family usually spends the time watching the TV or friends come home. My mother and my sister are diligent and hard-working women. They often keep the house clean and tidy.

On suffocating summer days, we usually take meals in the garden. It is fairly cool and quiet here. We enjoy our meals amid the melodious twitters of birds. On stormy and rainy nights the whole family members gather in the living-room, watching television or telling each other about their daily activities.

I love my house very much because it is the place where I lived when I got here from Argentina and because I have my space to study or to rest easily and I live happily.

A nightmare journey

Last summer I went to my parent`s village. One day there was a fire in the forest of the village.

We were about to have diner. Everyone was tired and hungry because we had had a busy day. Suddenly, I smelt smoke, and looked out the window and saw all the woods on fire. And by the time we realised what was happening, the fire was approaching the village houses. We managed to escape the house, my family and I were terrified, when we left the house we called the fire department.

In the end, Firefighters extinguished the fire after some hard work, thank God nothing happened to anyone. My family and I went home and everything was left in a scare.

My move

I was born in Barcelona city but when I was two years old my family and I moved to Llefià, in Badalona, because I had allergies and where we lived there was a lot of moisture. O I grew up in Llefià and there I spent a happy childhood. But because of my asthma I couldn't live in that house.
Then, when I was five years old the council gave us an "ofificial protection" house in Montigalà, near the Carrefour. Although the new house was larger and it was located in a nicer place than the old house I didn't want to move and I was so sad and angry with my parents. Although it seems impossible, I already had all my life made in Llefià (at five years old I had my friend, my school, my street where the whole people knew me and where they pampered me...).
Leaving my old neighbourhood hurt me so mach, therefore my parents had to let me live in my old neighbour's house a month in order that rhe change wasn't so sudden for me.
But just the same day I started to attend the new school I forgot all the past. I quickly met friend an I loved my new life. I also managed to keep old friends and I met new friends, and it made me so happy. Now these new friend have become my old friends that I remain with the majority of them from twelve years ago.
House moveing has been one of the best things that happened to me because if it hadn't happened I wouldn't have known the people who are around me now, the people who I love.
But sometimes I think what would have happened if I'd stayed in Llefià.

What NOT to do on Facebook

This is a funny one-and-a-half-minute video of a 10-year-old kid talking about what not to do on Facebook.

Do you agree with this kid?

Have you got a Facebook account?

If you do, what do you use it for?

Do you spend a great deal of time on it?

Do you know people using it badly?

Have you had requests from your family to be your friends?

Last but not least, are you using FB in English?

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Language notes:

It's curious the way the English language converts nouns into verbs so easily.For example, in the video he says:

- Don't facebook-friend you boss!

Or I have heard many times "google" being used as a verb:

- Google it and you'll see!  - Ok! I'll google it!

Into the West

Hi guys!

A few months ago, I told you about Cameron Duncan, a New Zeland boy who died because of an osteosarcoma. Cameron inspired a lot of people in the world, and the people of the movie The Lord of the Rings, who made a song inspired on Cameron's story. This song won an Oscar, and today I want to share with you a little video that I made with this song.
It's just a few beautiful pictures with this awesome song: "Into the West". It's just like a personal tribute to this amazing boy.

I hope you like it!

My dream house by Desireé Hernández

My dream house would be located in a very quiet place, next to the beach. In this way, I could enjoy the sunrise and sunset views.

From the outside, the house would have to look impressive, with quite a big door and large windows on either side.Inside, it would be very luxurious with a modern decor, and a warm fell throughout the house.

Moreover, it would have a bathroom in each bedroom, on each floor of the house. Also, I am going to have a living room very comfortable and a kitchen with all all appliances needed.

Furthermore, I am going to have a garden at the rear of the house with a nice cold pool. The garden would have many flowers and very varied vegetation and barbecue.

Also, outside the duplex is surrounded by a wall and a gate. It would have a path to the house, and another path to the garage.

In conclusion, I love my house.

My first date by Desireé Hernández

On my first date I was very nervous, I thought: I can't wait!

We met at the school, hurried went the same way but to different classes.We agreed to met in the park. Right away I saw that he was a suitable person, a very cute boy and so cheerful, actually we realized that were devoted to one another.

While we were talking he had been looking at me in the eyes, now and then he laughed.

Afterwards, he walked me home and we said goodbye.

3D Art

What do you think about this picture?

Breathtaking, isn't it?

I want you to know the name of the artist who made this amazing picture. His name is Edgar Müller, he is a Master of street painting uses the street as a canvas. If one looks from the right spot, its three-dimensional painting becomes the perfect illusion. He paints over large areas of urban public life and gives them a new appearance, thereby challenging the perceptions of passers-by.

If you want to know more about him, you can do it here: http://www.metanamorph.com/

Here you have a video where you can see how he makes the paintings.

Hope you like it!

Conditional Sentences

I've found this cool presentation which I think might be useful for you to revise the 3 conditionals.

View more presentations from Marga Alfonso.

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Conditional Clauses (2) from Marga Alfonso

Creative Commons licence

You may have noticed that I have recently published on the left side column of the blog a Creative Commons licence to our posts.

This is important to make clear the intention of the authors regarding intellectual property and to promote the sharing of resources, a free and vibrant culture. I sincerely believe that copyright is one of the great issues of our time.

I was specially thinking about Mireia's creative work in her videos where she puts together a bunch of nice pictures to illustrate a song or writes the subtitles in English and Spanish to some nice videos. I wouldn't be surprised if other teachers and students may want to reuse and share them on other sites, which is fair enough I think, as long as they give credit to the original author and do not make money with it.

There are many licences you can choose from. I have chosen the following licence. Click on the link to see the details.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Spain License.......

If you are not cool on that you can always include a more restricted licence at the bottom of your posts.

I have seen that our blogger classmate Carlos also uses the same licence in his blog animax.

If you want to learn more about what Creative Commons is, I advice you to watch the following explanatory video (here you have the English and Spanish version of the video).

Do you think it is a good thing the whole idea of the Creative Commons?



If you would like to watch it again in Spanish, click on the video below.



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Do you like living in a house like this?

Are you very stressed? Are you tired of your life? So, probably you hope to have a holiday. There is a ideal house where you will make the most of your holiday.

This is a detached house that is perfectly situated in one suburbs which is very quiet and there's not any noisy. There is a lot of shops, but it's convenient to live. Also the people are really friendly and warm.

The house is spacious. It was two bedrooms with a comfortable double-bed, a nice chest of drawers and a superb balcony. The bathroom has a spa bath which makes your body really relaxed. In addition, the kitchen is where you can do your favourite food, there is every kitchen appliance that you need, for exemple, mocrowave, furnace, ect. If you don't feel like cooking, no problem, there's a perfect restaurant situated a fifteen-minute walk from the centre. The living room is quite spacious with a nice coffe-table, two very comfortable armchair and a great TV. Moreover, there is Internet, with your computer you keep the communication with your friends. The house has quite big terrace and at night you can see a breathtaking sky with infinite stars, you will feel that is not real!!

This is a magnificent house. Is ideal for one person, couples or friends. The price is very economic! Don't lose this huge chance!!

My first date...

I'm very nervous, there is only one hour for him to pick me up.I'm excited because it's my first date, I hope it's memorable.
The doorbell rings, is it him ? very punctual I think. As he approched, I could feel the soft fragance to dislodge his skin. He took my hand and we went to his car. During the journey, we listened to a song that I like "Need you now", I love it. Getting out of the car, I adjusted my red dress while he was smiling at me a little nervous and cheeky. We were on a beautiful beach, illuminated by the moonlight. In the background, at the end of the bridge I saw a small table with candles, and he said:"Will you follow we?"
A well decorated table, with a tasty dish of Balognase spaghettis waited fot us. The dinner was ideal:we talked, we looked at each other, laughted and shared magic moments.How quickly the time went by, it was late we had to go back. We began to walk towards his car. This time they played a lively song, he was funny as always and began to sing himself.
We got to my porter's lodge while I was looking for my keys, I heard a noise. I turned round he, in a shy way approched and handed me a red rose. I hope you've enjoyed it, he said and with a simple kiss on the check he said goodbye.
I'm in my house and I think every second about what leved. I can't believe it! It was a perfect evening.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy halloween to everybody!

I hope you have a funny and scary night

Have fun!

A First Date

It was four years ago. Iwas in Ukraine. At the end of the school year, our school gave a party. There were a lot of students from our school and some guys from another one. While our company was dancing, I saw a quite nice girl. She was looking at me, but when i noticed it, she turned around. So I decided to do a step up and to speak with her. After 15-minutes chatting up, i understood that we have a lot in common. Afterwards, I asked her out.
We decided to meet each other in the city square. I was 5 minutes late, because i forgot my wallet at home. But when I arrived, she wasn't there, she came 5 minutes later. We greeted and went to the cinema. It was quite tritely but it was my first date. While we were walking, I was trying to be funny and to keep the ball rolling. Finally, we came to the cinema. I let her choose the film, so we went to see a love-dramma film. I almost fell asleep but fortunately she didn't see it. She was impressed, so the next hour we were talking about this film. The next stage of my plan was to go to a cafe. There, I enjoyed our conversation, we were laughing and discovering new sides of our characters. As time went by, I understood that this interesting and rich on events day was going down. I paid for the cafe and we went home.
I took her to her house ans she notieced that I didn't want to let her go. She smiled ans kissed me on the check. I was confused but i liked it. In addition, she said that she had enjoyed the time she spent with me. At home I couldn't slepp, I was always thinking about our date. But I was calm, because she enjoyed it. A few days later I called her and we spent a realy good time together, but it's another story.

The perfect house of holidays

The most beautiful house of Melilla is rented for a small fee of 500 € per month.
This house is located in the city center just a 5 minute walk from the beach and 15 minute from the border with Morocco.
The house has three floors of 100 square-meters. Outside the house there is a gardeen of 45 square-meters where you can enjoy while you'rre watching the water fountain located in the middle of the garden. On the right side of the garden there is a garage, which is separated from the rest of the house by a door to access from the inside of the house. If you get in from the streetdoor, the ground floor has got a bedroom on the left, which is followed by the stairs, which give access to the upper floors. Below that, there is an American kitchen (half of it is a kitchen and the other half is a livingroom). To its left we can find an Andalusian patio where we find a bathroom. This whole floor is pinted white and this gives you a feeling of quite and peace.
On the upper floor there is a hallway with four doors. If we start looking for the right side of the hall we find two rooms with balconies overlooking the street. Then there is a kitchen, which is smaller than the previous kitchen, and a toilette. From the outside of the hall we find a door to the main livingroom of the house.
The second floor has exactly the same structure as the first floor.
If we continue to go up the stairs to the roof we will find a terrace. Half of the terrace is covered by a porch with four columns. This is the best place of the house because from there you can see all the city and the sea during the day and you can relax while you watch the stars at night.
This is the perfect home for a memorable holidays or to spend the rest of your life.

Apartment rentals.

Flat with trhee bedrooms, living room, covered teraace 6 m2 fitted kitchen, wardarobes, air conditioning cold and heat pump, and outdoor furniture.
Near urderground L10, La salut.

This is a furnished apartment, it has at least: fully equipped kitchen, refrigerator, washing machine, bathroom/s, doesn't need reform, sofa/s, wardarobe/s, bed/s an table/chairs.

This flat has 75 m2, it's spacious and bright exterior.
It's moderns and warm, te forniture is basic ans simple.
Situated at c/ pau piferrer, near the underground, it is on the first floor of a six-storey block without lift.

The interior of the house is furnished, wardarobes and heat pump refrigeration (cold and warm), doesn't have heating, parking, storage, handicapped access and concierge.

It's dischanged and pet suplies at home, it costs 600€ a month including VAT.
(VAT = IVA)

A house to rent

Would you like to spend your Christmas holidays in a huge cottage, near the Pyrenees mountains?

It's a big, two-storey house, which is located in the north of Spain in Pyrenees mountains. This is a tremendous house near a mountain river and is situated in a very fairy place with charming landscapes. The cottage has a big kitchen, where you will be enjoying the local food, it's delicious. The breathtaking view from the big kitchen window, will impess you. Of course, on the first floor, there is a 30-square meter bedroom for parents, and an enormous living room with a fireplace, where you can relax after an active day. On the secound floor , you have two rooms for children or for your friends, and a big balcony, where you get a spectacular view of the valley.

After all, this house is very convenient. The closest supermarket is a 15-minute drive. And this place is very popular, because in 5-kilometer distance, you'll be able to spend your time at the ski resort. The local village is in a short drive. There, you can find all stuff that you need to buy. Stuff that won't let you forget this indescribable place. Local people are very friendly and their famous "Tiffany´s bar" is well-known in this district.

This house is perfect for families or for a group of friends. For people that don´t want to spend their Christmas holidays at home. And now, we have a special offer for you and your family. You can read it on our web, or you can phone us whenever you want and our guides will explain you whatever you want.

A HOLIDAY IN CATALONIA

Would you like to spend your holidays in this detached house on the Catalonia coast?

It's a spacious house, inside there are five bedrooms, one single room, a large kitchen with all electrical appliances, two bathrooms, sauna and two lounges, one to enjoy

with friends and another for watching films or talking with the family.

Outside the house there are breathtaking views of the skyline and the beach from the swimming pool. It has a huge garden with two swimming pools, one for children and the other for adults, which is ideal for swimming and having fun with your loved ones.

It's a quite, safe neighbourhood and the great majority of neighbours are tourists, in this way you won't have any problems with language.

It's a beautiful area with a lot of parks. The house is walking distance from stores and restaurants in the town and a short drive by bicycle from areas with excellent discotheques!

This house is perfect for families or groups of friends!

My dream house

The house will be built in 2011 in Badalona. It will be breathtaking.
From the garden lawn and the house, it will have different views. The main garden area on the waterfront is facing east. The western side of the garden will have two large tables.
The house will be made of wood. This is a permanent material and made of iron.
It is very effective and it requires minimal maintenance. There is no need to repaint it.
The roof will be made of steel and it’s got a good shape.
The house will be entirely wired for fast ADSL internet, with a wired network and outlets in all rooms, including living room, kitchen...
It will be suitable as home office, or for a technically minded family. It will also have a great garage. The place will be quiet.

Derek Sivers on TED: "How to start a movement"

Derek Sivers explains in a three-minute talk how movements get started. 
It is a short, intelligent and funny talk.  


We have witnessed this kind of behaviour  sometimes in class! ;)  
The key sentence might be: "It takes two". I totally agree on his emphasis on the second person. 

Language work: Write down one or two words you liked and you would like to use in the future. They may be new words,  or some words you already knew and you would like to activate (make them part of your active vocabulary).  


Hope you enjoy it!  Feel free to write your comments below!

"How to start a movement"



Speaker, Derek Sivers, enterpreneur: full bio and more links.
.

Holiday in the middle of a lake

If I could rent any house for a 2-week holiday, I would rent this amazing lake house.

It's a light house with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a large kitchen, a spacious living room, an attic and a dining room connected to the kitchen. There are breathtaking views of the lake and the

mountains from all parts of the house, because the walls are made of glass. The entire roof is flat and wooden, so you can sit there and see magnificent sunsets. And what is more, the house has a tree in the middle. In this zone, there are glass ceilings that can be opened.

The best part is that you can't have problems with the neighbours, because there aren't any neighbours. The house is alone in the lake. Around the house there is nothing more than trees. So you have a really big garden.

Maybe the house has one disadvantage, because you have to take the car to go to the city. This can be an advantage, because nobody can find you.

This house is perfect for a peaceful holiday, disconnect from your problems and just relax.
I would rent this house if I could, but I sure that all that I’m said is little compared with the real house. You have to see the house to realize how awesome it is, because a picture is worth a thousand words.

Skateboarding twins' movie

Nic and Tristan's movie: "Nic and Tristan Go Mega Dega" is now available on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

These amazing skateboarding twins, who I told you about a while ago, made a movie that now is available on internet.

As I know that they impressed you with their skateboarding, I think that maybe you would be interested in seeing them in a movie.

So here is the plot: Twins Nic and Tristan are pumped: Today's the Mega Dega Skateboard Comp and they're ready to win! But their plans take a serious spill when they realize it's their parents' anniversary too. Now they have to out-maneuver the world's most efficient babysitter, a magical broken statue, a rabid security guard and an angry punk mob. If the boys are going to win Mega Dega and save their parents' marriage, it's going to take all their skateboarding skills and a little help from their friends. Not to mention an army of cockroaches.

If you want to know more about the movie you can do it here: www.facebook.com/GoMegaDega

And you can follow the twins in their official twiter: http://twitter.com/nicandtristan/ , and their official page: www.skateboardingtwins.com/ or in their unofficial page: www.puehsetwins.com/

You can find below the movie trailer and the latest videos of the twins.

Enjoy it!

Movie trailer:

Last video:



And:

my first date

I met her when I was thirteen years old. She was one year younger than me, and she was the prettiest girl that I had met in my whole life. A few days before, I had met her, I asked her go out and she accepted. We arranged to meet at port of Badalona.

I was very nervous, it was my first date. She was late, but when I saw her, she made up for it when she arrived. She was very cool, and she had a beautiful smile in her face. She was wearing her old jeans and her favourite T-shirt.

We were walking through the port, I bough an ice-cream and she got her feet wet on the share. She was embarrassed and looking out me, but i thought that she was very sexy. Afterwards, she became and was sitting next to me. She asked me about myself and she told me about her life. While she was talking, I was looking at her eyes and her lips. Since that moment, we felt devoted to one another. Finally, I came back to her home, and she kissed me. That kiss I'll never forget it in my life!

Now, I have remembered that kiss yet. It was my first date and my first love, it marked my life, because it was very especial to me.

My first composition

I wrote this story when I was 13 years old. My first composition with a grade. I got a good!
And I was very happy haha =D!
This morning while cleaning my room I found it..

Our collaboration in the blog "Milloringlix"

This week we have the honour to be collaborating with the popular Catalan blog "Milloringlix".

We have been following this blog for some time now, it's one more way to expand our vocabulary. Last month we were invited by the author Carles Roca Font to write the "nanolliçons" of one week in October. We are very gratefull for that and exceptionally this week 7 posts are being published instead of the 3 it usually publishes. If you want to meet the seven authors which were finally chosen, check the link: Nova secció! INstiWeek

I hope you all enjoy the nanolliçons! It was good fun for us!

You can also follow the blog on its Facebook fan page which we really recommend!

..

A first date

My first date was at night. It was pretty exciting!
But I think I felt more nervous than excited.
It was my first date and I didn't know what to expect.
we went to dinner at a Mexican restauran at ten o'clock. I arrived first and I waited about 20minutes.
He arrrived late because he was buying a present.
And finally arrived! You can't imagine how nervous I was.

After that dinner, we went for a walk and a young man took a photo. I felt very especial! I started to apologize again for geing late and then he told me to give him a minute because he would bring me a present. Whith in a few minutees, he come and approached me. He said he had spent a wonderful evening at my side and hoped than it wasn't the last time we went out together. He said than he liked me. From the first day I saw I couldn't get him out of my mined. He had given me a present and two cards. He grabbed me and kissed me.
He thanked me again for agreeing to go out with him.

It was so romantic! I'll never forget that he was respectful and kised to me.
I had a great time!

"Stacey Kramer: The best gift I ever survived"

This week's listening assignment for homework will be a three-minute video I've recently watched on the TED conferences website. I think it's well-worth seeing it. It's a kind of parable, both shocking and moving, inspiring and frightening. Don't miss it!

We'll have some whole-class feedback on it next class.

I would like to highlight the following quote from her speech:

"The next time you face something that's unexpected, unwanted, and uncertain, consider that it just may be a gift."

Stacey Kramer



These videos are normally subtitled in about 40 different languages by some volunteers, but this is a very recent one and so far it's only been subtitled into 5 languages. Catalan and Spanish have not been done yet! You can always volunteer to do that, if you like it! It's good practice! ;)
..

The heart never lies

Hi guys! I found this song a few weeks ago, and I think you might like it. So I made a video with Spanish and English subtitles. The song is "The heart never lies" from McFly.

I hope you like it!

A special holiday

When I was seven years old, I had a really special holiday. I went to Melilla, my mom's city. She and her parents and sisters came to Barcelona when she was 10 years, and she has almost all her family there.

We went to Melilla by plane. I was so excited, because that was my first time on a plane. We went to the Barcelona Airport by metro, and I almost fall asleep because it was too early in the morning and I love sleeping. When we arrived at the airport, I thought that it was really huge. And I couldn't stop to look at all those people running through the airport. When it was the time to check in the luggage, I had a few problems to put my teletubbies bag on the detector. Then, we went to Malaga to take a plane to Melilla. In this second plane, I had to sit at the back of the plane, and I couldn't hear anything during the entire trip.

When we arrived, my family was waiting for us, but I had just seen them once or twice when I was so little, and I couldn’t recognize them. After that, we went to their house and ate.

Days after, my mom's cousin Loli took us to visit Melilla. Melilla is so small if you compare it with Barcelona, so when she finished the visit, I couldn’t avoid laughing when she talked as if Melilla took so long to visit. I remember so clearly that Loli's radio car was broken, and we were listening the same music again and again. Even now, if I listen to one of those songs, I remember those car trips.

One day, we went to my cousin's wedding. The banquet was held on another cousin's club (the sister of the recent husband). I spent all the night playing pool with my dad. We went home at 7 a.m. with 40ºC.

I remember that transparently. Melilla is so hot. You take a shower, and when you go out of it, you are already sweating. But that had a good point. I ate ice-cream at 12.00 p.m.

I remember with real affection when we arrived to Spain. We went to my grandparent’s house, as we always do, and we ate "tortilla de patatas". Then we showed them all the things that we had recorded. At the same time, my granddad was explaining us what was Melilla like when he left. He was complaining a little bit about the change at the same time, while my grandma was asking him to shut up.

This holiday was so special for me, because I could meet a lot of members of my family who I’d never seen, and because I could learn about the city where my grandparents grew up, and where my mom had her childhood.

Gisela Polido : Kiteboarder

Hi guys!

I want to talk you about a young amazing girl who became a World penta-Champion of kiteboarding with 14 years old.

I took a some extracts about her in her official site.
Gisela was born in Barcelona in January 1994. At an earlier age, the young girl shows greater interest in everything related with the sea. She wins her first sport prizes in swimming: Catalonia Champion in 50m butterfly modality.

Gisela gets in contact with kite boarding in the summer of 2001, and receives her kite surfing baptism in July 2002. The young sportswoman progresses very fast practicing this sport. She takes part directly in the 2003 European Junior Championship, due to the lack of competitions in Spain, where she finishes first place in the sub 14 years old category and second place sub18 years old category.

With the arrival of the first sponsors (Rip Curl), Pulido’s Family have to decide between supporting kite boarding professional practice or keeping the activity at amateur level. Gisela convinces her father. There is a big surprise when she qualifies in third position at Sables D’Olonne (Francia) KPWT stage. A month after she wins the European sub 21 Junior, and then she obtains her first victory in a World stage, in Istanbul in June.
Gisela finishes this amazing season in Nueva California, where she is crowned as KPWT World Champion in November 2004, with only 10 years old.

Under these circumstances, Pulido’s family decides to move to Tarifa. The young kite surfing girl suffers a radical change in her life: she travels around the world, and the training hours multiply by four. This fact makes her Red Bull Diagnostic & Training Center’s trainers to limitate her training timings. It’s necessary to control how the professional practice of kite boarding affects her growth.

In 2005 she proclaimed KPWT 2005 Twice World Champion. In September 2006 she wins the Spanish Kiteboarding Championship title. She finishes this great season in November 2006 crowned KPWT World Tri-Champion in New Caledonia, with 4 winning stages.

2007 establishes Gisela as a great sportswoman. Public recognition stars in February 2007, when she is nominated to the Laureus World Sport Awards, in extreme sports category. She also obtains a new record as being the youngest sportswoman ever nominated to that prize. Laureus World Sports Awards (considered as the sports’ Oscars) open the door the world top 5 extreme sportsmen exclusive club.

In November 2007 Gisela wins the Guinness World Record as the Youngest World Champion.
In December 2007 at the 70th Marca Newspaper Anniversary, she is decorated as one of the 100 Spanish best Sportsmen, becoming the younger athlete that wins this award.
2008 is also a year full of recognitions for Gisela, who receives two important awards: Best Catalonian Sportswoman, and Best Andalusian Sportswoman.
2008 she become the World Penta-Champion in the cold waters of Matanzas (Chile).

RESULTS:
2009 KPWT WORLD CHAMPION
2008 PKRA WORLD CHAMPION
2008 SPANISH CHAMPION
2007 PKRA WORLD CHAMPION
2007 SPANISH CHAMPION
2006 KPWT WORLD CHAMPION
2006 SPANISH CHAMPION
2005 KPWT WORLD CHAMPION
2005 GRAVITY GAMES GOLD MEDAL
2005 WAVE MASTER CHAMPION
2004 KPWT WORLD CHAMPION
2003 EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPION


If you want see her in action. Just enjoy!






You can know more about her in her official web:
http://giselapulido.es/

See u tomorrow!

Imaginary friend

This is a short film called Imaginary Friend starring Paul Butcher (Dustin on Zoey 101).
It's about a boy who is the imaginary friend of a 7 year old girl, and what happens to him when the little girl grows.

It's a little bit sad and emocional story, but it's so sweet and cute too.

I hope you like it and you remember your old imaginary friends if you ever had.

Enjoy!

We are just preparing for Maths!!!

Exams are a fair way of testing students. Do you agree

Every year thousands of students take important exams which can decide their future. For example, students have to pass exams with satisfactory grades in order to get a place in a university. However, are exams a fair way of testing of judging a student's ability?

On the one hand, exams seem fair. The questions are the same for all students. Also, the exams are marked according to a strict scheme and usually by more than one examiner. Furtheremore, students do the exams at the same time and under the same conditions.

On the other hand, there are some drawbacks with exams. Despite some students deserving to pass, they might be so nervous on the big day that they make a mess of the exam. Moreover, there may be other reasons, such as illness, which affect a student's performance in an exam. An alternative to exams would be a system of continuous assessment of course work by teachers during the year although this would mean more regular testing and more work for teachers. There would be a greater opportunity for students to copy work, too.

To sum up, exams are not the ideal way of testing students and the idea of assessing students' work over a longer period is becoming more popular. In my opinion, the best system would be a mixture of the two 60% exams and 40% course work.

Sunscreen

I just thought we could finish today with this motivational video. It's got funny pictures, nice music and some good advice.

The text comes from a newspaper column by Mary Schmich, published by the Chicago Tribune newspaper on 01 June 1997. And then somebody made a video from that text. You can read the text below.

I think the most valuable piece of advice is probably: "get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good". But the whole video is full of good advice and fun images. Which one is your favourite piece of advice?





Everybody's Free
(to wear sunscreen)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97... wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. 

I will dispense this advice now. 

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are NOT as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85. 

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

         But trust me on the sunscreen.