Buying online is the best way to shop

In recent years, internet shopping has increased. Many of us have bought something online but some people are afraid of buying the services which are offered on Internet. In this essay, I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of "buying online is the best way to shop".
On the one hand, buying online is the best way to shop because there you can find things cheaper than in stores. Besides, you can find brand articles at a lower price than in stores. You can also find good second-hand items at half price. Another advantage is that there is an indefinite time: you can buy at any time of day. For example, people who work and who do not have time to go shopping in a store can make all their orders via Iternet becausa in this way they save time by not having to leave home and they can buy even though the shops are closed.
On the other hand, online shopping has many risks. You must enter the credit card number on the website to buy, so they can charge you twice for the same object and it is very difficult to claim. Furthermore, they can steal your personal information to buy with your name. This means that they can cheat you. For this reason, customers are disappointed, outraged and cheated, so they do not dare to buy online. In addition, you can not try the item of clothing and objects and you can not know if that suits you or if that is your size. Moreover, you can't return something if it doesn't suit you or if you don't like it because, often, the cost of return exceeds the cost of purchase.
In conclusion, although it has many advantages, I strongly believe that buying in shops is better than buying online. Despite this, Internet shopping is good as long as you use safe web pages.

The mass media has a great influence on people and especially on the younger generation. Discuss.

nNowadays, our life is influenced by the mass media, including TV, radio, newspaper... Everywhere, people are being exposed to a boom of advertisments and information by the media. All that pressure can produce a lot of advantages and disadvantages.
On the one hand, the media can offer us a lot of opporunities and hopes according to our future. Since the last decade, everybody who has wanted to get success in his life or his job has needed to appear in the media at least once. Almost all people who have appeared in the media has had a successful life after it: everybody reconognizes him and many businesses want to sign him up. Despite of it, the media gives us a lot of information from all over the world and our mind can be influenced by all these events, perhaps, it helps us to mature.
On the other hand, the news are manipulated by the media and it's cheatting us. Therefore, young people grow up with a wrong idea from the world, which coerce us when we need to make a desition. Besides, the media controls our lives although we don't realize it. Adds, news and series tell us hoe to take part in our lifes, how to dress, how to speak, how we should have our hair cut... All that means that we cannot be free with our society.
Finally, all in all I think that the advantages are not enough and, for this reason, I can't say that the mass media has a good influence on people, But I also say that we cannot believe a society without information because it gives us culture.

The language of successful presentations

This is a really short but hopefully inspiring and relevant video (only one minute and a half).

You can see again our old friend, Steve Jobs, president of Apple.

I can tell you from my experience working in two multinational companies that the world is about presentations. Why? Because, let's be honest, nobody reads long reports and so in real life if you have a project, you will always be asked to present it to the managing team of your company, sponsors, .... Half of the people in the world are more afraid of oral presentations than death! And so, how can we overcome this fear? by preparing and over-preparing our presentation plus learning a few tips which will make us more confident and relaxed. This is a skill which is given a lot of attention in American schools. Maybe that's why some of the best speakers in the world are American.

So let's learn form the very best!! 

This one-and-a-half video is a series of short extracts taken from a 90-minute presentation. 

Can you make a list of some of the positive language that is used? 

We'll revise and put together all of these words next week in class.

How many new words did you learn?

I discovered this video in a blog I am subscribed to with Google Reader. The blog is DigitaLang and the post is: "The language of successful presentations".

We like Instalyrics

Instalyrics is a new site for music videos and lyrics. 

It shows you the lyrics to any song very, very quickly, along with a music video that goes along with it. 

The lay-out is very clear and clean. 

Have a try and have fun!  

Damien Walters

I just found a video of this guy and I thought you would love it.

Know a little bit of him:

Damien Walters is a former British gymnast of Derbyshire specialising in tumbling. He participated in four Trampoline World Championships. He won the European Title with the British team in 2006.

He also worked in many movies as a stuntman. In 2010, he won the Taurus World Stunt Awards for "Best Fight" in the film Ninja Assassin'

Damien Walters also has a passion for Parkour and Freerunning where he incorporates his gymnastic skills as well as his stuntman abilities. On YouTube he is one of the most watched Freerunners with his videos having a total of over 30 million views.

Currently he is running his own gym in Derbyshire and shooting films.

See all his videos in his youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/damienwalters

Here you have some of his videos.

The story of a sign

Hi guys!

I just found this video and I thought it would be interesting for you.

This short story, winner of the 2008 Cannes Festival, shows how the power of words and the kindness of strangers can have a big impact. Film produced by Alonso Alvarez Barreda.

Here you have the original short film and a UK version

Espiral Edublogs 2011

We’ve got excellent news today!!! I’ve just received an email saying that last Wednesday some blogs had been misplaced in the list and that we have been selected one of the 6 finalists in the category of “Blogs de alumnos –Bachillerato”! See definitive list. So we made it to the final! 

It is a great honour to be in such a prestigious list.

Congratulations to all of you who have contributed to this blog and enriched it with your posts, comments!! And thank you to all the readers! 

It is expected that the winners will be published on the 15^th of May! We’ll keep fingers crossed! 

Happy blogging!

Ric Elias: "3 things I learned while my plane crashed"

This five-minute talk is about regrets and living life to the full.

Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time.

Remember you can read the subtitles in English.

Also, on the right-hand upper corner it says "open interactive transcript" and you can click on any part of the text and listen to a specific bit of the speech again.

If you go to the TED's page, you might also like to read people's comments and reactions, feel free to leave your comments below as well. What do you think about what he says?

Happy listening!

V Espiral Prize - Edublogs 2011

Today the blogs that have reached the final have been published by Espiral Edublogs.

We presented our blog under the category of “Blogs de alumnos - Bachillerato” and we didn’t make it to the final, but I advise you to check the finalists since it is an opportunity to learn from the very best bloggers of the country! 

Under the category of “blogs de alumnos –adultos-EOI–Universidad” there are three blogs about English learning which are really well-worth visiting.

Remember to subscribe to the ones you like using Google Reader (see the tutorial on our tutorials page) or subscribe by email.  

Good luck and congratulations to all the finalists!! 

It is incredible all the enthusiasm you can see in Twitter following the hashtag #espiraledublogs.

Happy blogging!

Advantages and disadvantages of being a large family

Is it a good thing being a large family? Or are there only disadvantages?

Maybe almost everybody has asked this question to himself once in a life. If you have a small family, you wonder what it is like is having a large one. In contrast, if you have a large family, you wonder what it is like having a small one. In any case, there are advantages and disadvantages of being a large family.

On the one hand, having a large family could be difficult 'cause you have to share your parents’ attention with all your siblings, and this could be really difficult, especially when you are a toddler. And of course, it is most likely that you have to share your toys and stuff too. In addition, in a large family there are a lot of things to do at home, so that means that you have to do your chores on a regular basis.

Another disadvantage could be the space in the house and privacy. That could be a problem if you live in a not pretty big house or in a normal flat, as almost everybody in our city. In that case, you would have to share a room with one sibling at least, and sure there would be a lot of problems with the bathroom.

On the other hand, having a large family could be so cool and sure you could have a lot of fun. One of the clearest advantages is that you will always have someone to talk with. Besides, if you have a problem, you have a lot of siblings who can help you. You will always have someone who will take care of you, who will protect you.
Another advantage is that as you have more chores and responsibilities with other people, that make you more responsible and considered.

To sum up, having a large family has some disadvantages, but in my opinion, the advantages are more satisfactory, so this makes up for it.

PS: pic of cheaper by the dozen

Mobile phones have become an indispensable part of our daily lives.

Mobile phones are used by almost all of the people, every day thousands of phones are activated throughout the world, and they bring everything to satisfy the final customer: internet, camera, gps, etc...

Now to buy a mobile, we have a lot of things to choose from: model, size, color, operating system. Even we don't pay much attention to its main function, the function that really matters: calling.

With flat rates, we all read the news online, check mail, chat, etc… All this with mobile phones.

The phones have had a great growth, previously we only used them for to its main function, now we use them for that and more, helping us a lot in our daily lives. We no longer rely on computers to be on the internet, but of course, computers are better, faster and more comfortable, but mobile phones are not far behind. Engineers work in pretty big companies on how to improve these characterizations and to make them more attractive to the final user. All this to make life more comfortable, but still we should not rely heavily on them; we must also learn to control our use of them, use them for what really matters.

Is it indispensable? No. It is useful, yes, but we can live without them.

Summarizing: the phones are very useful and we make things easier, but we shouldn't depend on its use.

WATCHING FILMS IN THE CINEMA IS BETTER THAN WATCHING FILMS ONLINE

Most of us have watched films online that we have downloaded, we enjoy watching films online, but some people argue that going to the cinema is better. In this essay, I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of going to the cinema instead of watching films online.

On the one hand, going to the cinema is better because there is a great atmosphere, with the loud sound and big screen, with people laughing, screaming and crying, that depends on the type os film. Another advantage is that you can go out, walking, enjoying the film and coming back home. In addition, when we go to the cinema, we help the actors and technicians.

On the other hand, cinema tickets are more expensive than online films. However, we cannot feel the film, whereas in the cinema we can feel the atmosphere. Moreover, when we download films, it is clear that there is the probability that we download viruses or anything alike.

To sum up, watching films in the cinema is a fantastic experience. However, I think it is also great to relax watching a film at home.