Gerund or Infinitive

Gerund or Infinitive in Songs

Today I would like to try out an activity that was prepared by a Polish teacher who teaches English.
Thank you Natalia for sharing this activity in your blog!

Happy learning!


Songs used:

1. She will be loved, Maroon 5
2. New York New York, Frank Sinatra
3. Hey Jude, The Beatles
4. Let her go, Passenger
5. November rain, Guns’n’Roses
6. Lost on you, LP
7. Hello, Adele
8. Man down, Rhianna
9. Billy Jean, Michel Jackson
10. Love on the brain, Rhianna
11. Clocks, Coldplay
12. I want to break free, Queen
13. Lazy Song, Bruno Mars
14. Purple Rain, Prince
15. Rehab, Amy Winehouse
16. Stop cryin’ your heart out, Oasis

The place where I live

I live in Badalona, which is an important town of Barcelona. It has a population of ever 220,000 people.
Badalona is a problematic and dangerous city for different reasons, such as: robberies, shootings, multisided fights etc. .But despite this it is a very beautiful and popular place for tourists, since Badalona has an incredible coast, and this can be demostrated with its magnificient "oil bridge", "the three chimeneys", and the promenade.
The weather is fantastic, neither too cold in winter nor too hot in summer. Badalona is also known for its "Montigalá" mountain, that if you go up there you can get to see an exploded landscape: blocks of modern and giant flats, the beach... .
In conclusion, Badalona is fantastic but dangerous!

Which do you think is the best sport for a young person to take up?

There are many sports in the world, but in my opinion, there are some very specific sports that are better for young people (with young people I mean tenagers between thirteen and seventeen), a clear example is calisthenics.

Calisthenics is a physical discipline that only uses the body weight of the person who wants to practice it and also, this sport seeks strength and beauty in its exercises, therefore it has many benefits. Some of them are: you do not need financial resources (since a young man does not have a lot of income) because calisthenics is done outdoors and part of the good thing about it is going out and not being closed like in a gym or you meet people with your same tastes, you do not pay absolutely any money because you can use everything: a bench, chair and even a lamppost. and therefore you do not spend money on material, such as the famous weights.

And finally, this discipline trains absolutely everything: balance, large and small muscles and you even test yourself and also train your mind.

In conclusion, calisthenics is the best sport a teenager can do.

Why the educational system needs to change

I have been studying for quite a few years now. I have seen a lot of things here, I have talked with people about it and I have come to the conclusion that this is not the way future students should have to learn.

First of all, whe learn a lot of unnecessary stuff. Surem lots of people say the same thing, but that is because they have got a valid point. In my opinion, we should have more freedom when deciding which subjects we want to do and which we want to pass on. Sure, there would have to be some staples (maths, basic science, history...) but we could learn what we actually enjoy (or hate the least).

Following up with the generic argument from before, here's another one: The workload teachers give us is just obscene. Homewok, projects, exams, just and endless array of stuff that causes problems to us students, such as: stress, sadness, not being able to do what you enjoy, lack of sleep, etc. A quick Google search shows that if you write: "School makes me..." it autocompletes to "depressed", "sad", "want to cry" and the like. I would really want homework and the aforementioned things toned down a little bit.

All in all, educational problems fall into one of two categories: unnecessary learning and excessive workload. Fixing them, while difficult, would ensure the betterment of students in most regards (happiness, motivation, etc.)

"The teenage years are the most important years of your life"

When I hear the phrase in the title, I kinda cringe a little bit. People who say that are mostly teenagers with no concept of future.

Let's say you live for 80 years. Well, your adult years occupy about 75% of them (60 years). Sure, puberty is the time to learn the useful stuff in life and grow as a person, but it's in adultood where you put everything in practice and yur life actually depends on it. Besides, you can still learn and grow in your adult life.

I think people use that phrase because it's in the teenage years where you usuallystart having a lot of fun and freedom: you meet up with friends more often, you start going to parties, etc. And I get it, I'm having a lot of fun, but we must understand that the future will not be like this. There are way more important and enjoyable things happening in the near future.

In conclusion, although puberty let's us discover freedom and have a lot of fun, adulthood takes up most of your life and makes you the person you will be for the rest of your life.

The place where I spend summer vacation

I spend the summer in a small town called Santa Marina del Rey. It is a quiet town whit a small population in winter but when summer comes all the houses and the streets are full of people.
Santa Marina del Rey is a small town located near the centre of Leon, in the town there is only one primary school, teenagers who live there throughout the year, to study in high school must go to other villages. The water there is not bought or taken from the tap, there are three water pipes throughout the town so you can go with the garage and fill it with natural water, The Órbigo river passes through the town.
The best know thing of the town are its festivals. The Garlic Fair, is in June from 18th to 20th there are concerts at night with fair, there are also workshops and the mass of the town where all the people go to church and after the mass the floats made by the inhabitants of the town parade.
What I like most about the town are its custom since I have friends who instead of buying milk a supermarket go in the morning to the cows of Amor and buy the milk from  Amor, who is a lady who is dedicated to livestock. I also like very much that instead of using a car to move around the town and the surrounding villages, everyone goes  by bicycle and of course I am in love with the sunsets from the church bell tower.

THE THINGS WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD

Think that I would change few things, such as taking care of nature and animals, that would be the first thing we should all change. In my house little by little I am getting them recycle everything. It is true that they say that after all together, but I think that is a lie and that they separate things and many things take them to be able to give it a second use.
It would also change something else, which is that people learn to respect and value what we have, since we are all day complaining about what we lack or the carp that our shoes are (for example) when we should be grateful to have some shoes. And respecting, lately young people of today, those of my age, do not respect their parents, their teachers, their friends or just a totally unknown person they see on the street do not respect her, they insult  him in front of his friends to be funny.
And that is what people should change because the world doesn't have to change!
Who has to change is us who live in it and do not care or appreciate it.

A description of a place

To start with, I will talk about the town where every year I spend my holidays, Abertura.
Abertura is located in Caceres, Extremadura, and it is a very small town os only 403 inhabitants. It is close to the town chosen on more than one occasion as the most beautiful in Spain, Guadalupe.

Abertura is a town focused on livestock and agriculture. In that area, the fruit is exported to the countries that feed from these foods, such as nactarine, plum and, above all, tomato.

The weather in Abertura is typical of southern Spain.  In summer, which is when I go, it is very hot -hard to notice from the pool or eating an ice cream- and the nights are cool. In winter, it is very cold and it rains enough to withstand the summer droughts.

Abertura is not very well known, it is a very quiet but cheerful place with its popular festivals and has magnificent landscapes.

Speaking about food, it is spectacular because barbacues are held, and there are many different types of food, such as "calluses" or "sangria". They're delicious!!

Finally, what I like best about Abertura is how confortable I feel there with my family and my friends, the freedom that there is different from that of the city and specially the nature that is breathed and seen daily.
I like animals that I never in the city and like spending hours watching the stars at night wile talking with your friends.

Marc Martos

Description of a place.

Alcanar is one of the best places that i have ever visited. My grandmother was born there. My grandparents have a house there, so  every summer we go there. Alcanar is a big town, although there are only 8.000 people living there, because the vast majority of the town is countryside, so it's a very large space. It's a very beautiful place, so many tourists go there. There are amazing beaches with great fishes. There is a small problem with an invasibe crab,(blue crab), wich is probing the disappearance of many native species.

In Alcanar there is a mountain called Muntsià. There is a small neighborhood where only German people live.

Ireally like go to Alcanar but I think that going there for a month is a bit excessive, so not to get bored, I go for a walk, looking for asparagus, snails, sometimes I help my father to cut the tree branches,...

Do you think politics is an appropiate subject at school?

To begin with, political science studies the different power relations between different types of authority and individuals.

Some aspects in favor of studying politics in the institute are the following if one studies and compares, better objectivity is achieved about what is being learned or compared.
A clear idea for the future is also present to be able to decide the right option for each citizen.
Finally, you get a clearer idea on the subject, substracting ignorance of the population.

On the other hand, there would be many conflicts between the students and it would be very difficult to maintain a class in harmony due to the diversity of ideas.

In conclusion, studying politics at the institute would help to learn about a topic that interests the entire population directly and indirectly.

Marc Martos

-Live concerts are the best way to listren to music. What do you think?

I think that this statement isn't correct at all. It's true that live music can be more exciting for everyone, but in the long run you can develop serious hearing problems.

Live music is usully at a very high volume and you don't have the option to adjust the volume.

However, if you listen to recorded music, you can adjust the volume to a tone that isn't harmful. 

When we are young and we don't have any hearing problems, we don't give importance to it but when we get older, then you start to give it importance. We don't usually appreciate things until we stop having them.

Do you think today's educational system should change? Why? Why not?

I think that education is very important for our lives, because it is the key our world,work,etc.And also to speak with people, in other words, education is always present.

We have two types of education.House education and school education.

I'm going to talk about the education in high school but this also depends on the country it is found.Moreover, in some countries the upbringing is more demanding than others.

From my point of view, I would change the education because I think that learn is enjoying and now there is more oppression than enjoyment, so I would change this , in other words, we can enjoy things and also learn.

In conclusion, I like this eduction but with less opression.

An opinion essay (1st of Batx.)

You can choose one of the following options or propose a different one:


- Live concerts are the best way to listen to music. What do you think? 

- My opinion about Instagram. / Twitter. / ...


- There is too much violence on TV/ computer games.


- Young people are not interested in politics. Do you agree?

- Which do you think is the best sport for a young person to take up?

- What would you do to change the world? In your opinion, what are the most important problems? What would you do to solve them?  


-  "Studying traditional degrees like philosophy and history is a waste of time and money." What's your opinion? 

- "The teenage years are the most important years of your life" Do you agree? 

- Do you think today's educational system should change? Why? Why not?

- Do you think politics is an appropriate subject at school?



Once you have written your first draft, go throught our "Writing Checklist" to see that you have not made any of the most common mistakes for a Catalan student. 

Can you use any of the "Connectors and linking words" in our list to improve your composition. 


Some useful expressions to express you opinions:

• Personally, I think.....
• Personally speaking, I believe....

• In my opinion,......
• In my view, .........
• From my point of view, ........

• As I see it, ..............
• It seems to me, .......
• As far as I'm concerned, ...................
• I strongly believe, .........
• I am sure that ........

Happy writing!!!