About friends

WHAT MAKES A GOOD FRIEND FOR YOU?

A good friend is honest and supportive when you feel down. A friend loves at all times, is only ever cruel to be kind, is outgoing and loves hanging out with you. A good friend is all these things, but most of all, a good friend is dedicated to your friendship.

Describe a time when you made a new friend. What were you doing when you met him/her? What was your new friend like? Use exercise 7 as a model.

Two summers ago I went to a Christian meeting here in Banyoles with my friends. I was listening to a woman talking about her daughters' story when Laura, a girl I didn't know at all asked me for a tissue paper. I gave one to her and we started to talk. We soon became friends she was really nice and friendly and she gave me her number so that we could keep in touch. Almost two years after that we are still very good friends!

About my last summer

Hi, today I'm going to talk about my summer holidays. First of all, I'm going to talk about my exchange experience in the States. After that, about the week I spent in Cadaqués with my family and my days in Catalunya. And finally, about my trip to Belgium.

This summer I left my country to be able to live probably the best experience of my life: a month away from home. I went to America with the YoungLife USA camp program. On July the 1st we took a plane to London (a 3 hours flight) and after that we took another plane to San Diego. We spent the whole day flying and going from airport to airport. After a really long day, we got there and I met my American family: the Martinez family. They were a lovely Mexican couple and they had a daughter called Emily and an 18 year old son called Eddie. During my experience there I got to meet a really huge and nice family and I had a lot of fun with all of them. I went hiking and I also did some tourism around: we visited Downtown San Diego, la Jolla beach, Oceanside, etc. On the second week everyone that came with me from Catalunya and Andorra and some of the American kids went on a road trip. We went to LA, Hollywood, Universal Studios, Santa Monica,... We had a great time together. After visiting all these places we took a bus with boys and girls from Escondido to go to Woodleaf, which was a typical American summer camp. Woodleaf is incredibly big and I didn't expect it to be as much fun as it was. We did a lot of activities every day like the swing, the tower, the slides, we went to the game room, to the club, etc and I met a lot of new friends. Also, western night was a dream. On the last week of the exchange program I hanged around with my friends and also did a Service Project and went surfing. Although surfing was fun it was really frustrating because I think I am the only one that couldn't stand up on a surfboard. But at least I tried :') During the month in California I didn't feel homesick at all and I'm looking forward to go back.

After a few days at home I went to Cadaqués with my family to spend the week at the beach. It was great to relax and go paddle surfing for the first time. I also stayed at home some days and went canoeing, met my friends again,... I went on a hike with my brother, my aunt and my uncle too. The view up there was stunning. On September I helped at the kindergarten next to my house and also went on a trip to Belgium. I went there with my canoeing friends to take part of the Sobeka Flanders Cup. We did k1, k2 and k4 and even though it rained a lot on the last day I really enjoyed that trip.

In conclusion I had the best summer of my life and I feel blessed and thankful that I got to meet so many great new friends. 

Living on the edge! (La Jolla, San Diego)

My American parents

Craziest ones out there!

Surf day

Blackberries in Cadaqués

Cadaqués

Cap de Creus

Downtown San Diego with this one!

Downtown San Diego

Potato chip hike

LA - the view

Walk of fame

Corn dogs are sooooo good

Surf day

Western night

Baseball game

Me and a cow. Cuz why not.

Vall de Núria

Candy shop in Belgium

Photo booth with Emily

Fun times in Banyoles

Joan R: He went to Lourdes to help sick people and did a service project. He also spent two days in Barcelona.

Joan C: He went to Hawaii. He stayed in Kaneohe. He visited a lot of places in the island.

Nur: She went to Euskadi with her family. August was a new experience's month because she went to an aquatic park for the first time.

Laia: She spent the afternoons watching drama series. In September she went to El Pantà de Sau to row.

Elisabet: She slept a lot during summer. She went to Andorra to celebrate her birthday.

Maria S: She went to Port de la selva with her friend, Ariadna. She took part of the Sobeka Flanders Cup in Belgium.

Núria F: She visited different European countries with her family.

Nico: He went to a rowing camp in Eton with Laura. He also spent a month in Menorca.

OBSERVATION OF MY ORAL PRESENTATION

Body language and eye contact:

- Did you look at your audience most of the time? I look at the paper ocasionally because my oral was "quite" long but not really often.
- Did you read from your notes? As I said before, I did many times.
- Did you do any gesture/movement to hold the attention of your audience? I kind of did.

Structure:

- Did you organize your ideas in order of importance? I organized my ideas chronologically.
- Did you use discourse markers to make your ideas more clear? (First, then, after, ...) Yes

Content:

-Did you introduce interesting NEW information to your audience? I think so.
-Did you look up information/facts/ideas in the internet/books? No, because I didn't have to. I thought I wasn't going to find any information about myself on the internet or books! was your information more superficial or more detailed, and original? I tried to include funny or interesting info.

Language:

-Did you check your grammar? yes I did.
-Did you use rich vocabulary looking up the dictionary? I tried to.
-Did you use sentence linkers? yes
-Did you use fillers? yes, ocasionally.

Pronunciation and intonation:

-Did you know how to pronounce all your words? yes
-Did you check the pronunciation with a dictionary, a classmate or the teacher? no, I didn't.
-Did you change your tone of voice or use a monotone tone all the time? I changed it to say certain things but not much.
-Did you speed in a fluid continuum or with breaks and interruptions? Most of the time, I didn't do breaks while I was talking. I may have stopped once or twice.

Self-evaluation: I think I should get an 8 or a 9. I think I've improved.

I love English Magazine

CINEMA & MUSIC

On page 5 of this month's I love English Magazin there's a small article about Carly Rae Jepsen. I used to love this singer three years ago and I have her cd too. That's why I'm so excited she's back with new music! Looking forward to hear new pop catchy songs :)Also, Peter Pan is one of my favourite Disney movies, so I'm happy that a movie based on the book is coming out soon. Although, my favourite Peter Pan movie will probably always be the cartoon one.

Carly Rae Jepsen

Peter Pan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOUTUBE!

I went to San Diego last summer and it's funny to know that the first YouTube video was filmed in a place I've been really close to. Also, I didn't know that it was posted in 2005! That's not a long time ago, YouTube is only 10 years old!
I think that videos are a perfect way for politicians and important public figures to reach a wider audience too. For example, there's the Yes we can video that helped Barack Obama become president of the USA.  YouTube is also a very useful learning tool. You can learn lots of different sorts of stuff with just a click!

A review of a book or film

I'd like to recommend a book which I read last year, called Pride and Prejudice. The author of the book is Jane Austen.

The book is a drama and the setting is England, at the turn of the 19th century. The main characters are Elisabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

The things I liked the most about the book were the characters and the theme of love. Some of the scenes are memorable because they're very deep and emotional and the plot and the style are so good.

All in all, I really liked the novel, and I wouldn't change a thing about it. It isn't an easy book to read, but it's got a strong message.


Keira Knightley as Elisabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.

How reintroducing wolves helped save a famous park

Wolves were once the top predator in America’s world-famous Yellowstone National Park. But the population was eradicated in the 1920s, leaving the wilderness wolf-free for seven decades. In 1995, however, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone; this gave biologists a unique opportunity to study what happens when a top predator returns to an ecosystem. They were brought in to manage the rising elk population, which had been overgrazing much of the park, but their effect went far beyond that. In this film, The Nature Conservancy’s lead scientist Dr M Sanjayan, Dr Valerie Kapos of the UN Environment Programme and animal behaviourist Kirsty Peake describe how the returning wolves dramatically changed the park’s rivers, forests – and the landscape itself.

Click on this link to watch the video

COMMENT

I love animals, that's why I chose this article. I think it's pretty interesting how people's opinion on wolves has changed. They have a good image now and that's awesome!

Rediscovered Francis Bacon portraits up for auction - BBC

Two self-portraits by Francis Bacon are going on public display for the first time after being rediscovered in a private collection, before being sold.

Although experts knew the works by the late painter existed, they had no idea who had bought them. Descendants of the original owner have decided to sell the paintings, which are expected to fetch up to £15m each. The artworks are titled Self-Portrait 1975 and Three Studies for Self-Portrait (1980).A Bacon painting featuring his friend and fellow artist Lucian Freud, became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction when it fetched $142m (£89m) in New York in 2013. Oliver Barker, Sotheby's senior international specialist in contemporary art, described the discovery of the portraits as "a pretty extraordinary collecting moment". "(Art dealer) Marlborough Fine Art kept a photographic archive and so both of these paintings appeared in a book on Bacon's self-portraits, but apart from being reproduced in books they've not been seen," he said. "We knew of the existence of the paintings but simply had no idea where they could be. The first time I saw these paintings it was such a wonderful awakening. They're both so luminous." Self-Portrait 1975 was painted at the height of Bacon's career in the period which followed the suicide of his former lover George Dyer in 1971. Although Bacon was in his 60s he looked much younger in the work, having dyed his hair and worn make-up as he grew older. Three Studies for Self-Portrait (1980) shows him with downcast eyes, increasingly haunted by the inevitability of death. Mr Barker said that the artist "gave himself film star-style looks, appearing as photogenic as possible while still being highly self-critical". "He paints himself with a much more youthful appearance," he said. The self-portraits go on sale at Sotheby's London Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 1 July.

COMMENT

I thought this article was interesting because we are studying art at the moment and many words from the unit's vocabulary appear in it. Also, I'm really interested in paintings and lost masterpieces.

Romeo and Juliet

ROMEO AND JULIET

The Montagues and the Capulets

When the story begins we see both families fighting in the streets of Verona...

Benvolio wanted peace and Tybalt wanted to fight. It was a great insult to bite a thumb at someone. When the Prince arrived he decided that he didn't want any more fights between the two families. At the beginning of the play Romeo was in love with Rosaline. He felt sad because Rosaline did not love him. Benvolio and Romeo discovered that the Capulets were going to celebrate a party. Romeo found out about it reading a servant's list of names. He wanted to go there because Rosaline was going to be there. They decided to wear masks because they did not want to be recognized. At the Capulets' house, Lady Capulet told her daughter that she was supposed to have to get married soon and that she was going to meet Paris at the party.

The garden of the Capulets

Romeo fell in love with Juliet when he saw her for the first time. Tybalt recognized Romeo at the party. He didn't fight against him because Lord Capulet didn't want him to. Romeo and Juliet found out that their parents were enemies. After the party Romeo went to the garden of the Capulets. There, Juliet was talking to the night. They decided to get married.