Self Evaluation

Yes, yes... so here we finally are. It's already the end of Batxillerat, the end of two long years with loads of new experiences and things we have learnt...
Well, what can I say about the English classes during all this time? First of all, and I think I've already said that a few times, I'm sure that the year we started Batxillerat was nearly the best time to start with such a "project for innovation", just because I think that we couldn't have continued with the "ESO-like" activities for much longer. From my point of view, this project had many advantadges, thing which we can see in the majority of our blogs and portfolios. I think that the main point was starting to talk more English in class and also starting to do things like Orals. I truely must admit that it was not always easy to find time to do everything, specially last year, when everything was so new for us; but a part from that I also have to say that I have really learnt a lot and that it's now pretty much easier to talk in English than three years before. I know that we have been like "guineapigs" and so I can understand why everything was still a little chaotic and disorganized last year...
I think the activities which best show our level of English are things like speakings or Orals, just because in my opinion it's more important to know how to speak correctly English and how to communicate with others than to learn grammar and do nothing else as book activities.
Also writings show your level of English: a good and correct use of the main writing rules is also important.
The activities which really useful were speaking activities, as I said before, for example with Annika. Reading books, music and watching films were also important.
Maybe the thing that was not so useful, at least for me, was the moodle, but basically because I never really found time to go there.
Hmm... what have I enjoyed? Well, the first thing is the different activities we have done, I mean, it was not always the same routine and we did a big variety of exercises. I also enjoyed somehow the presentations, basically because it was something different and because we learnt a lot looking up for information and so on.
Well, that's it more or less... To sum up I'd like to thank our teachers Lourdes and Sònia, who have really helped us a lot in these two years and who somehow made our classes much funnier than those we had years before. I wish you the best for the following years, continue like that ladies and take care!!

Writing: Informal letter

17 Park Avenue
LN78X2
London
England

18th April

Dear Nathalie,
Do you remember that I promised writing to you as soon as I arrived at my new home? Well, you know me and I use to keep my promises, right? So here I am, I arrived at my new flat in London after about two hours of being in a plane, what a horrible trip, by the way... But anyway, London is so beautiful! I haven't seen many things yet, but for now I'm very excited about my new sorroundings. My neighbours are also fantastic, not as bad as I thought, everyone has helped me a lot these days and Mrs. Fairforx, from above, has shown me nearly the whole town already. My parents also feel quite well here and I think they are quite happy to have done a little change in their lives.
The people here are quite different than in Spain, but quite similar to Germans. On one side, they are much more serious than the Sapnish ones, but on the other side they have something very interesting and I really enjoy talking with them. But anyway, I miss you all a lot and I'm not sure if I can be happy enough without you by my side... Anyway, how is your life going on? Are you still working or have you finally decided to take a degree?
Well, my dear, I have to leave you. I send you a few pictures of my first week in London.
I hope you come to visit us this Summer!
I wish you the best!
Lots of love,

Jenny Olbrich
xxx

Pride and Prejudice

1- Pride and prejudice. Explain the title: who's got pride? who's got prejudice?

Elizabeth Bennet got both. She's a very pride person and of an inferior rank, which is a prejudice for her and her relation to Mr. Darcy and her family also, indue to one of the girl has to merry as soon as possible in order to not loose their properties.

2- View the trailer of the film and write what they say

Man: YA!
Bennet Girl: He is here!!
Mrs. Bennet: is he amiable?
Bennet Gril: Is he handsom?
Bennet Girl: He is single!
Mr. Bennet: I believe so.
Bennet Girls: AAAAAAAAAH!!!
Mrs. Bennet: Oh my goodness!! everybody behave naturally!!
Mr Collins: Mr Collins at your service
M;asculine Voice: In an era when marrying a rich man was the most a woman could hope for, Elizabeth Bennet was way ahead of her time
Mr Collins: I single you out as the companion of my future life
Female voice: Sir...
E. Bennet: I cannot accdept you!
Mrs. Bennet: Don't worry Mr. Collins!! Tell her you insist upon her marrying!!
E. Bennet: Papa please...
Mrs. Bennet: you will have this house!!
E. Bennet: I can't marry him...
Mrs. Bennet: you will save your sisters from destitution.
E. Bennet: you cannot make me!!!!
Mrs. Bennet: (crying)
Masculine voice: from Jane Austen, the beloved author of emma and and sens and sensibility...
Mrs. Bennet: This is Mr. Darcy...
E. Bennet: He looks miserable poor soul.
Jane Bennet: miserable may be but not poor you most sadly he's not.
E. Bennet: do you dance Mr. Darcy?
Mr. Darcy: Not alike now but..
bennet girl: what have you done to poor Mr. Darcy?
E. Bennet: I have no idea!
Mr. Darcy: I don't have the talent of conversing easily with people i have never met before
E. bennet: Perhaps you should practice
Mr. Darcy: May I have the next dance Miss Elizabeth?
E. Bennet:It would be most inconvinience since i just want to loathe him for all eternity! // May I. // He's so rich!
Voice: Up of heavens how a snob you are!
masculine voice: This for a focus features presents the story of a modern woman.
L. Catherine: Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. you think this union could be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth
Masculine voice: discovers the one person she cannot stand is the one man she may not be able to resist
Mr. Darcy: do you expect that your rejoice and your inferiority of your circumstances
E. Bennet: From the first moment i met you aren't have realized that you are the last man i could ever marry
Mrs. Carpenter: Do you not think him a handsome man?
E. Bennet: Yes I dare say he is.
Masculine voice: from the producers of bridget jones diary and love actually
e. Bennet: He's been a fool (...) I think so have I
Charlotte: We are all fools in love
Masculine Voice: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blathyn, Donald sutherland and Judi Dench
Mr. Darcy: you have bewitched me body and soul
Mrs. Bennet: I thought she didn't like him
Jane Bennet: and so did I, and so did we all
Masculine voice: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE


3- Life in the Jane Austen's times (bonus material)
Comment on some differences that caught your attention.

Jane Austen is the author of Pride and Prejudice. She lived during 18th century.
The most impacting thing is that she used to hide for writing because she didn't wanted to be seen, yet in her eyes it was not a good thing to do.
something not strange for the era but for our society is that she had to marry a man she didn't like at all. The search of real love and the fact that she had to marry as she didn't wanted influenced deeply in her writing.

4- The State homes
Choose one of the houses where the film was set. Look up basic info, a picture and a moment in the film you particularly like.
Chatworth house
Burghey house
Basildon park
Groombridge place
Wilton house

Groombridge Place

Its the house of the Bennet's but its actually the property of Mr. Collins, The next servant from Lady Catherine De Bourgh, the aunt of Mr. Darcy of Pemberley.

There have been manor houses on the site of the present Groombridge for centuries. The earliest mention of one of these is from 1239, when the Lordship of Groomsbridge was granted to William Russell. William and his wife Haweis built a small moated castle at Groombridge, and, later that year, were granted a charter by Henry III of England to build a chantry. When William died in 1261, lordship was granted to Henry de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham, heir of the influential Kentish family, the de Cobhams.
The is also a secret garden were the owner of Groombridge Place died while reading a book. He's buried at the same place.

There are many ghost stories at Groombridge Place. The ghost reported most often is the ostler. The ostler is reported to have drowned in 1808 and is usually seen wearing a rust coloured smock and standing in the doorway the cottage that backs onto the moat. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle describes his encounter of a ghost in his book "At the Edge of the Unknown".

5- Dating traditions (bonus material)

*What do you do when you meet people for the first time? Are there any accepted social norms?

We shake hands and give a kiss on each cheek. No actually there aren't any norms, I think it depends on each person, everyone acts different when they meet someone, some start talking about work, others about how cool they are, others about their life... it's up to everyone.

*Answering these questions may help you:

1. Where did people go in order to find a good husband / wife? They used to go to a ball at other people's houses or villas.

2. Who went dancing? Daughters and Sons who want to marry.

3. What were the rules of behaviour for a man when a lady walked in a room? They had to be polite, stand up, of course.

4. When did people have the opportunity to talk with the person they were interested in alone? After talking to her parents

5. Describe the first time Darcy touches Elisabeth. It happens during a dance, it's the only way they can touch each other.

6. CONCLUSION: Should there be some basic social norms for dating? I don't really think there should be any norms. I think the best thing by meeting or dating a person is to be yourself and be natural. It's bad when you pretend to be extremly "cool" just for impressing the other one.

6- Keira Knightley

She plays one of the most important female roles in literature. What is your view Ms Elizabeth Bennett? Is she a heroine? How different is she from her sisters?

I think Ms. Elizabeth Bennet is a great example of female power, and as great way to show this conflict between the old social norms, which are obvious in his parents' and family's way of thinking. I do think she symbolizes something like a heroine because she is quite brave and goes against the decision of her parents, thing which was not very common for the other girls in the era she lived in. Others would have married Mr. Collins, just to do what the parents wanted. But Lizzie is different, because she has a character and she knows what she wants and wants to fight for it. All this things make her different from her sisters.


7- AlternativeUS ending: Why is a different ending required? Which do you prefer?

I think people wanted a different ending for this film because the first was a kind of "open ending" and I think that most people were waiting duting the whole film to see this final happy end between Lizzie and Mr. Darcy, this finaly kiss which shows their deep love.
I must admit that I also prefer this new ending to the first one, but this does not mean that the British version is not good. I think for this film it's probably better a closed ending, just because of this "final kiss" ;-)

8- Views on marriage. Write your opinion in 100 words: "Happiness in marriage is a question of chance"

Every little girl is dreaming about marriage, and for many people marriage is something like an aim, and also like a dream: the dream of a perfect happy life with the person you love. But does a long marriage really mean happiness?

On the one hand it's obvious that many people are not sure if the person they marry is really "the one" they want to spend their life with. This is what makes some marriages break down, and that's also the reason for so much untrueness in this kind of relationship. From my point of view, even if it is quite difficult to talk about this because it's more a personal decision, it is definitely important to know a person well when you want to marry him or her, and it would be also good if you have already lived with this person; so you may have no surprises.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that happiness in marriage IS possible, but it really depends on the people. I'm sure that knowing each other well is not an obstacle for being happy together, but it also could be. It's true that by looking at people's actions you can really say that happiness in marriage is a question of chance, depending not only on yourself, but on the person you're with as well.

Writing I

Imagine you are a journalist for Blue Earth magazine. Write an interview with the leader of a Tuareg clan about their way of life in the desert.

The water problems our society has had during the last years are every year increasing more and more. In Blue Earth's January edition Sarah Parker interviewed the Spanish Minister for the Environment about this problem, and also in our last edition we talked about it in an article called "Green Sahara".
Today we are going to interview Mr. Fallak abd-el Hassik, the leader of one of the best known Tuareg clans in the desert our team visited.

Q: Good evening, Mr. Fallak, thank you for coming.
A: Oh it's a pleasure to be here.
Q: So, Mr. Fallack, as I understood you are the leader of a Tuareg clan.
A: Yes, that's right.
Q: And could you tell us how long you have been in such a clan?
A: Hmm... well, I've actually always been a Tuareg and I've always lived with them. But I've been the leader of my clan for about years, since my father's death. He also was a leader, you know?
Q: Aha, I see... And what do you have to do as a leader?
A: Well, basically you need to controle and organize your clan, and help them to learn how to survive in a desert.
Q: So you are a bit like a mum..!
A: (laughs) Well... Maybe a little bit, yes.
Q: Ok (smiles), and what about your way of life? Isn't it difficult to live in a desert?
A: Yes, definitely. But you get used to it, after a time.
Q: And where do you get your water from?
A: Normally from the cities, or when we come across a village. It depends. But we always use to have water with us, even if we can not abuse on it.
Q: Yeah, I suppose that. What about the extreme temperatures?
A: Oh... It's difficult, yeah. It's really hot during the day and it's sometimes almost impossible to continue walking. The sun really shine bright and strongly, so you must be really careful by choosing your clothes, you must try to cover nearly your whole body..!
Q: And does it ever rain there?
A: Rain? What's that?! (laughs). No, no, I'm joking. But honestly, it's really difficult to see rain there. I think I've only seen it once in my life!
Q: Only once? That's incredible!!
A: Well, for me it's normal.
Q: And could you imagine to live in a normal city, giving up your life as a Tuareg?
A: Hmm... actually not, no. But I'm sure that I'll have to do it in the long run, if the climate continues changing that much...
Q: Yeah, that's a problem everyone will need to face, sadly. Anyway, thank you very much, Mr. Fallak!

Saint George Day Acrostic

Strong and proud he made his way
And saved a princess on a well-known day
It's more than a myth,
Not only a legent;
The Saint George Day is something more special than that

George saved a young princess from an
Evil dragon. From the creature's blood grew
Oh! What a surprise! A
Rose symoblyzing his act and the power, the
Great power of love that will last
Eternetly

Video News II

Baby born with two faces

People in a small indian village are surprised by the new baby of one of their neighbours. Just a few weeks ago there was born a baby with two faces, this means it has four eyes, two mouths, two noses and two ears, all of them perfectly working! Questioned people from the village believe the young girl is the reencarnation of an Indian Goddess, which was famous for their strenght and fighting spirit. If this baby will ever be old enough to fight or two lead a normal children's life is not so sure for the experts, because they're sure that there will be a lot of health problems, strating with an incorrect working of her brain.

To watch the video click here

Video News I

Suicide and Internet

This video news, taken from the cnn website, talks about one very important problem of our society. It's the problem of publishing sites in the Internet which tell people how they can commit suicide, divided in some sections like "painful", "quick", and so on. Talking is a man who has lost his 15 year old son this way and who didn't know about such terrible websides before, and he works now to warn people from those pages and to prevent young people from suicide themselves.

To watch the video click here