Sunday 30 May 2010

The Smoking Law in Spain

Nowadays a lot of people all over the world are smokers. This habit is one of the worst there is since th snuff is just a legalized drug. Therefore, countries like Spain have decided to do somethinh against the high level of smoking.
From 1st January 2006, Spain prohibited smoking at the workplace. For bars and restaurants that are larger than 100 m^2, the law allows the creation of separate smoking rooms. For bars and restaurants that are smaller than 100m^2 (and this is the vast majority of cases), the legislation offers the bar owner the possibility of going smokefree. If the bar or restaurant does not go smokefree, it means that customers under 18 years old would not be allowed in that bar. However, compared to other European countries, where smoking in the workplace is banned altogether (Ireland, Sweden and Norway), the Spanish legislation is weak and confusing. Consequently, smoking will be banned in every indoor public place, including bars, clubs and restaurants before the end of 2010 in Spain.
As far as I am concerned, I quite promptly let this law I think the smoking ban is beneficial for everyone. This law makes it difficult for smokers to run his vice because they must go outside if they want to smoke in the workplace or in public places, which at several times due to laziness and just giving unconsciously are encourages to smoke less or quit altogether.
It's also an advantage for non-smokers because we breathe the smoke of smokers, and, personally, I hate the mell of snuff is me hooked on my clothes and hair, when going to the bar.
It's also an aid for people who are trying to quit smoking because they don't see other people smoking, at least in closed places, helps them forget about smoking.
Finally, besides that it looks good, I think it's the only thing we can do. We have seen that to divide local areas has been a failure, almost no one has done it, for me the best thing is to cut for the healthy.

Friends

Freinds is an american sitcom created by David Crane nad Marta Kauffman, which ran on NBC from Semptember 22th, 1994 to May 6th, 2004, and in Spain ran on Cuatro from 2005 to 2007. The series revolves around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City: six young people on yheir own and struggling to survive in the real world, find the comprensionship, compfort and support rhey get from each other.

A popular schoolgirl in the past, is now a spoiled brat living off her parent's income. In an attempt to start a new life after running out on her weeding, she shares an apartament with an old best friend Monica Geller, and eventually the be friends of the other four and Monica's brother, Ross. Monica Geller is a compulsive neat freak, who has trouble with overweight. However, now a head-chef at a top restaurant in Manhattan, she has lost all her excessive weight, and just wants to start a family with "the right guy" to complete a happy life. Ross Geller has always had strong love feelings for Rachel. A successful professor of science leads him to be often teased by the other five friends about his profession. Ross has experienced many misfortunes in life, including three divorces and bringing up a child with his lesbian ex-wife. Ross now is devotes to finding a girl to settle down with, without a divorce, and makes it his personal goal to share happiness with Rachel. Phoebe Buffay was brought up as a fatherless child, she is a ditzy yet loveable hippy, who has became a personal masseuse. Despite liking her profession, her dream is to become a star in the music industry and bases her songs on her life experiences. The other five friends secretly believe that Phoebe will never make it, but still encourage her to write. Phoebe often perfoms at the "Central Perk" coffe house (one of the main stages of the series), and strongly believes in herself. Chandler Bing is a financially securate data processor, who relies on humor as a defens mechanism. Despite being rich, the other five have no idea what his profession is, and Chandler is a wimpy, average looking cigarette addict, who has never had a serious relationship. Besides, his parents are divorced because his father had the chauffer like a lover, and later became a woman and began working in a cabaret. Joey Tribianni, despite being also roommate. Joey is a small time actor, who desperately wants fame and fortune, and Chandler has high expectations of Joey, so helps Joey with money for acting lessons and professional photographs. Despite being a relatively bad actor, Joey is an adorable, sensitive guy and fairly silly, who is very successful with women, but needs to become famous and rich to complete his successful life.
All in all, I'd recommend this sitcom because it's an extremely funny series. Besides, it shows everyday life situations and how to address problems with humor and desire. What's more, it is a very honest series that makes you see that someone is always wors yhan you. Personally, I think that "Friends" is one of the best series of the history of TV. It's a Side Splitting Series, with emotion and drama. Definitely one to wath! It's a must!

Saturday 29 May 2010

My Favourite Series

Hey, what’s up?

Well, I’m here to talk to you about my favourite TV programme, and my favourite TV programme is called “Lost” but Delia has already talked about it, so I will talk about “Heroes”. It’s a series of science fiction, issued in USA. There are four seasons, divided into 6 volumes, 5 volumes have been released and the last volume will soon see the light.

This series is fantastic it, is about people that for an eclipse, they get supernatural powers.
There is also a company that tries to capture them to avoid any problems with society.
The character that is a really nice! (For me) is called “Sylar”, that guy is very strong. He has a very interesting power, this power is an ability to capture the powers of other people, and he has a lot of powers like the teleportation, time travel, regeneration, flight, psychokinesis, etc, etc...
He's the enemy in many seasons, but at the end he's a good man and he's a Hero.

All in all, I’d recommend this series because it’s very interesting, especially the first season, which is the best. Also you have a lot of sensations, like drama, action, suspense, etc. Personally, I think that it is a good series and I hope that the end will be great.

Are curfews a good idea?

Hi!

The curfew always happens in the coups, and is very dangerous because people are heard, and sometimes, are killed.

Personally, I think that a curfew is not a solution for anything, actually the curfew is a bad idea in many ways, because nobody can benefit, in fact, everybody suffers.
Another thing is the evening activities, such as parties, going to the cinema, going out for dinner, etc. And all this in a curfew is impossible, for the police, are always in the streets and nobody can have fun.
Well I say this, because we all suffer, young people, who always want to go out and don't like to stay at home, we could not do it, and not to mention the concern of parents when the children stay late on the streets, concern that something will happen, for that reason, I do not agree with curfews.
In addition, what bothers me is that most of times, curfews, are the fault of politicians who want to take power, that's what bothers me most, because they always want it all, and I don't like that idea. However, it may work for people who do bad things, only to bad people, but unfortunately everyone would be affected.

As far as I’m concerned, I do not agree, but if they do it, they should do so in remote places such as a camp or a reformatory, but not apply it to all people, because there are people who haven’t done anything and are affected.

Thursday 27 May 2010

The Democracy

The Democracy: the best form of government possible?
Democracy is a form of government, it is an organization of groups of people. Their rules are to take the best decisions for a country.

Not everyone will agree that there is democracy, nor agree with the person leaving as a representative, this is not the one we choose, if not the greatest vote ever had.
Everything is a false, politicians want us to believe what they want, through speeches where they just say what people want to hear.
Politicians have the power to change laws and they establish the law that is supposed to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
Laws are not really subject to popular vote. We vote the elected leaders, after all, we voted memorized speeches, not political leaders with their own personality, desire and motivation to seek the interest of their voters, but politicians who seek the easy vote.
On the other hand, democracy is good, since people can decide their own lives.
The problems of democracy are visible and you can sue based demonstrations.
Yes it is the fairest system, if applied as written in the books and not as interpreted by the politicians. And as long as this democracy has its ideological pillars anchored in socialism, it is the system that "theoretically" provides greater equality between citizens (delete classes, "to each according to his needs and from each according to their means," Elimination of private ownership and management of the means of production cooperatives that meet diversity of opinions)
Not only can we find democracy, but also authoritarian, governments or extreme left or extreme right are really the same thing; leaders who are looking for people to weight out malleable old desires for power and sovereignty above the rest, although paradoxically some talk about social equality schemes.
Another way to govern is autarchies, states based on the disarray within an established order. In short, a future without seeking to make noise and that serves as a springboard to another thought and treaty regime once the current are has been deleted.

With all that, we can reach agreement with many ways of governance.
All of them lead to the same place, and not necessarily the best.

Intensive Summer Courses

As I have already mentioned in class, I really encourage you to enrol a summer course in July. They are interesting, entertaining and you'll make new friends.
Those in "Escola Oficial d' Idiomes" are the cheapest and highest quality.
Don't forget the level test is on 28th May at 5p.m. There is another level test on the 14th June 5p.m.




Student at exam hall (an anecdote)

This is a story which I don't know if it's true or it's just an urban legend, but it's quite funny. A student outsmarts the teacher by playing a clever trick on him. 
And based on this anecdote, I found a video with this gag in youtube which I think was used for an advertisement.

I think this story could happen in many universities where they have large classes with hundreds of students and the professor doesn't know half of them. 


Do you know who I am?

It was the final examination for an introductory Biology course at the local university. Like many such freshman courses, it was designed to weed out new students, having over 500 students in the class!

The examination was two hours long, and exam booklets were provided. The professor was very strict and told the class that any exam that was not on his desk in exactly two hours would not be accepted and the student would fail. Half of an hour into the exam, a student came rushing in and asked the professor for an exam booklet.

"You're not going to have time to finish this," the professor stated sarcastically as he handed the student a booklet.

"Yes I will," replied the student. He then took a seat and began writing. After two hours, the professor called for the exams, and the students filed up and handed them in. All except the late student, who continued writing. An hour later, the last student came up to the professor who was sitting at his desk preparing for his next class. He attempted to put his exam on the stack of exam booklets already there.

"No you don't, I'm not going to accept that. It's late."

The student looked incredulous and angry.

"Do you know who I am?"

"No, as a matter of fact I don't," replied the professor with an air of sarcasm in his voice.

"Do you know who I am?" the student asked again in a louder voice.

"No, and I don't care." replied the professor with an air of superiority.

"Good," replied the student, who quickly lifted the stack of completed exams, stuffed his in the middle, and walked out of the room


Wednesday 26 May 2010

The Karate Kid

I want to share with you the trailer for the new Jakie Chan movie. The Karate Kid. The new remake of the film with the same name.





This film is starring for Jakie Chan and the young Jaden Smith (Will Smith's son).
Well, I found a Jaden interview of a couple of years ago, and it's so funny. This interview in Ellen Degener's program has a spanish subtitled, so I think maybe you can enjoy with it.

Just enjoy and have a funny time!

An opinion essay: the future of Catalan

At the moment, Catalan is being spoken in Catalonia and other places, for example in an island of Italy. Probably, in a few years, Catalan won't be spoken outside Catalonia because the official lenguage of the country will be more used.

However, I think catalan should be spoken. I'm sure that Catalan won't disappear because in the schools and the people in their house will speak Catalan.

All in all, Catalan shouldn't disappear since the Catalan culture would disappear as well.

The smoking law in Spain


The smoking law in Spain was changed a few years ago. Now people can't smoke indoors unless it's authorized in that zone. Personally, I think the law should be more strict because people don't respect it.


Firstly, smoking is extremely bad for you, it's a drug. I don't understand why we have a strict law with drugs, but not for smoking. The law (conforms with) forbids smoking indoors, but if someone smokes there, he doesn't have a punishment. For this reason, a lot of people smoke in front os people who don't smoke and they don't care. For me, this is outrageous! I always say: "It's okay if you want to kill you, but you don't kill me. I want to live!"


In addition, the smoke is so annoying, since it causes clothing and buildings to smell, and is very defficult to remove. What's more, it's dangerous for our lives. Besides the cancers that causes, it many cause fire and born woods or a building. As a result, it can kill many people or cause irreparable damage.


As I see it, smoke is an addiction, and for the people who have an addiction it's easier to become addicted to other things. Therefore, we need to avoid that people start to avoid other addictions.


As far as I am concerned, as a non-smoker person, the law should be strict for the sake of the persons, especially for the non-smoker persons. And the people who smoke should make the effert to make sure the people arround them don't care if they smoke. If not so, they try to find a fair solution, always respecting their desicion to live healthy, or at least the best they can.


In conclusion, everything is based on the respect for others. And law must be to support this idea, if someone doesn't comply it.

If I won the lottery


If I won the lottery, I wouldn't belive it and I would be very excited. I would be crazy to start investing the money won, and also I would be very nervous about having won this large sum of money.

First of all, I arrange for me to spend money well. For my family, I would buy a bigger house to live better, and also for my mum I would hire a maid to help her and I would buy a new car. For myself, I would probably buy a plane ticket to New York because I don't want to die without having visited it, and I would like to continue training as a dancer in the best schools in the world. I would certainly buy lot of clothes.

I don't think winning a million euros would make a big diference to my life. I would still go to school and with this money then be formed to get a good job. And I wouldn't want to lose my friends.

My favourite TV series


My favourite TV programme is called "Física o Química". It's a popular series for teens, because it deals with the daily life of these.

It's a series which speaks about the life of the students and teachers, and it is set in a school in Madrid. The main character shows people what their lives are like and how they usualy spend it a lot of teenagers. It's a very realistic series that's why people like. Act in the series Stars as Blanca Romero and Ana Millán, a very good actress.
In my opinion, this series is very educational, entertaining and realistic, that's why people are sohooked to this series and always follow it.

I would definitely recommend this series, because it is really well-acted and very enjoyable.

MY OPINION ABOUT SCHOOL DROP-OUTS

Nowadays in Spain, many students complete only the E.S.O. As a result, this can cause serious problems for the student, their families and the country. Is it right school drop-out ? Absolutely is isn't !!

I think there are many reasons why students leave school early.
Family problems are one cause since if parents are divorced, no-one may be taking responsibility for the teenager.

The second problem is money, in many countries college is free, but unfortunately in Spain we should be paid. What's more, some students want to work in order to support their families or help themselves. Perhaps the main reason why students drop out is for academic reasons. For many students, school is stifling and very boring, they prefer drop out school and work hard or just saty at home, being lazy. But there are others who have learning difficulties that need specialist help.



As I see it, I think the problem of school drop-out can be reduced by the students and the government. In fact, college should be free like in other countries.

As far as I'm concerned, drop-out isn't a good idea. The way to solve this problem is improving oneself, leaving aside the problems.

Friday 21 May 2010

Stephen Hawking: How to build a time machine

The post I'm writing today is a contribution of your chemistry teacher Silvia. I suggested she should write the post herself as a guest author (I know her English is very good)... but you know what head of studies are like... busy people!

So here is is the link she sent me to this amazing article written by Stephen Hawking. The article is about how to travel in time:  Stephen Hawking: How to build a time machine.

I think it will be very rewarding for you to see that you can read an article by Stephen Hawking and understand most of it! The article is not short, so take your time to enjoy it and absorb it fully.  

Have fun!

Friday 14 May 2010

"It's worth keeping an eye on that blog"

I'm very happy and honoured to announce that we have received this award from two blogs: Enjoy Learning English and Ampliación de Inglés. There are so many fantastic blogs out there that we are delighted to be in these lists. Thank you very much for including us in your lists.
This award is  part of an initiative called "Vale a pena ficar de olho nesse blog", which means "It's worth keeping an eye on this blog". If you have been nominated, you should insert the picture above into your blog with a link back to the blog that nominated you, then complile a list of 10 blogs you think are well worth a visit. They in turn if they would like to, of course, copy the image above and link to 10 blogs.

It's been very difficult to choose just 10 blogs, and I've made an effort not to include the ones which have already been mentioned many times in the lists of other people. So to keep the ball rolling, here is our list of top 10 blogs (alphabetical order, no ranking is intended):

Always learning (by Kim Cofino) 
BlogWalker (by Gail Desler)
English in Bachillerato (IES Licinio de la Fuente, Malaga)
Milloringlix  (nano-lessons for Catalan speakers of English)
Nik's Quick Shout (by Nik Peachey)
Nik's Learning Technology Blog (by Nik Peachey)
Six Things (by Lindsay Clandfield)
Shall we talk? Blanca d'Anjou High School  (Tarragona)
Teacher Reboot Camp (by Shelly Terrell)
Think and Dream in English (by Pilar)

Child Labour: Working Children Tell Their Stories

On the 10th of December it is the International Human Rights Day. However, it is always a good thing to raise awareness about a problem which is still far from being solved. 

In the following link Child Labour you will find the real stories of 5 teenagers: Assane, Kumar, Pablo, Paula and Sawai. What do they have in common? They all started working at a very early age.
 

Today in class we'll read a different story each, take notes and explain them to the other members of the group.Use the worksheet below as a guide-line to take notes, it will be easier later when you share the information with your classmates. 




Reading Guide-line

What do you think we could do to solve such a serious problem?

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Twins on movies and TV shows

A lot of times when you see a kid in a movie or in a tv show, actually you are seeing two kids playing the same character. This is the case of the Olsen twins, who played Michelle on the show Full House (Padres forzosos).
This happens a lot of times, because there is a strict law about the children work.
I want to share this video with you, where there are more cases like the Olsen Twins.
The song is "Identical Twins" by Olsen Twins.

I hope you like it!


" Sorry If I call you love "


Sorry if I call you love is written by Federico Moccia. It is a love story between a 37 years old man and a teenager girl. Alessandro works as a publicist. When he met Nicky he had recently broken up with his girlfriend, she abandoned him. Nicky his 17 years old and she is studying her last year in high school.


One day While she was going to school with her motorbike Alessandro crashed with his car. Fortunately in this accident no one was injured, but a love was born between two people from different worlds and different ages. Although her parents did not agree that her boyfriend is too old, but they accepted their relationship.


They lived a beautiful love story until it appeared his ex-grilfriend , Alessandro began to doubt and he that he loved Nicky and finally they started to live together in a lighthouse because it was their dream.


Personally, I think it is a good book because it is very interesting it has adventure, fun moments and romance. Besides the book, there is a film which is also very good. The moral of this story is: If there is love, age doesn't matter.

Monday 10 May 2010

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition


One of my favourite TV programmes is called Extrem Makeover: Home Edition. It's an American TV programme which in Spain is shown on Nova channel, Mondays to Fridays at 3.00 p.m. It's a reality television series providing home renovations for deserving families, horted by Ty Pennington. In Spain we have our own version which is called "Esta casa era una ruina".

The programme is about one team of designers who builds a house in seven days for a family. The team is formed by Ty Pennington (host and design team leader), and four designers more who chance every program. The most usual designers are: Paul DiMeo, Paige Hemmis, Tracy Hutson, Tanya McQueen, Micheal Moloney, Ed Sanders, Preston Sharp, Eduardo Xol and John Littlefield. The team travels through the 52 States of America helping the family with more problems in each state. The family always has serious problems with their house that occasionally is partially destroyed and there is a possibility of collapsing. A lot of times the family has a family member witha disease and this is the reason why they can't fix up their house, because the haven't got enough money. (In America there is not a Social Security, they have to pay huge hospital bills). But sometimes they need help because they have had problems with a natural disaster or they have just had problems in their lives.


The programme has three different parts. In the first part, Ty presents the family with a video where they explain their story. For me that is the hardest part of the program because you can see all what is happening and how much they are struggling to move forward. There is always a really heartbreaking story. Then, the team meets the family and the parents show the house to Ty. Meanwhile, each member of the team talks with a member of the family about what they want in their room. Later, the family goes on holidays for a week.


In the second part, the team destroys the house. Each programme has an amazing and totally original (and diferent too) form to destroy the house. It's absolutely great! Later, they start to build a house. The house is special for each family. The shape, the size and all the other things despend on the needs of this family. Ty has a "special project" on every programme, which is so funny because he doesn't let anyone pass and all the team tries to see what he is doing. For their part, each member of the team decorates one room. This room is special for the person who sleeps there. They decorates awesome rooms.


And in the last part, the family comes back home. They arrive by limo and there is a bus so that the family can't see the house. Then, all the people scream: "Move that bus!" and they see their new house. I love it when they see their rooms. It's so exciting to see their faces. Finally, the family thanks the team and the programme ends.


In my opinion, this programme is amazing. I really enjoy it because it has a little bit of everything. It has really touching stories but has funny moments too. It's a really entertaining programme and I'm sure all the people can enjoy it. I think what most people like are the breathtaking houses that they build. It is definitely worth seeing!

My favorite programme.

My favorite television programme is Password. This programme can be seen at 8pm on channel “cuatrO”. This programme is a contest.
The presenter is really funny for the people. In my opinion the presenter is boring but she is fairly nice. She isn’t rude.

In this program there are 4 people, two of them are famous and the other two come to compete. The two famous persons can’t win the programme. They go to help the contestants.
The presenter gives 5 passwords.
The game consists of guessing the passwords that are given to the famous person by the presenter. The famous person says words related to the “passwords”. They can’t be synonym the word. The player in front of them has to guess the word.
Example: the password is dog
The contestant has to be say related words like: animal, domesticated, house…
They have a minute to guess ascertain 5 passwords.
The group which has more right words will go to the final programme.
The final is like the whole program. The time shall be 2 minutes.
If he she wins, he she will win 88,000€
This program is extremely difficult.

All in all, I recommend this program to all kind of people. If helps to greatly increase your vocabulary.
This programme is very interesting and fairly entertaining. In this program you can learn new words and synonyms.

Saturday 8 May 2010

MY FAVORITE TV SERIES


My favourite tv series is called " 90210 Beverly Hills". It's one of the most popular TV series about youths in America. Before, it was shown in Spain, but now it's only shown in America and I have to catch up with the series online with subtitles in spanish.

The plot is about teenagers who live in Beverly Hills, the richest city in California, all are rich. What's more it's about teenagers' problems such drugs, friendship, studies, parties, teen pregnancy...

Recently, there has been the season premiere, it's becoming more exciting but I can't always see it, I have too much homework!!

The truth is that, personally, I prefer to see the chapters online because this way I can improve my English!

All in all, I'd recommend this series to everyone who likes enjoying watching series because it has everything, it's really amazing and really entertaining!

It's worth watching " 90210 Beverly Hills"!!

Tuesday 4 May 2010

MY FAVOURITE TV SERIES

My favourite TV programme is called "Lost". It's a popular American TV series which is shown on Spanish TV but above all it is seen on internet.

The story starts when a plane crashes on an island and the survivors have to organize themselves to survive because they are cut off and in the island strange and inexplicable things happen. It seems that they are in the island for some reason, that's not a coincidence. Now they are showing the sixth season but I'm still hooked as the first day.

I would recommend this series because it is really well-made. When you start to wathc the seriees, you can't stop because you want to know what will happen next. It's worth seeing. This series is for anyone who likes mistery stories.

Avatar (film review)


Avatar is a science fiction epic film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver…The development of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page script for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron’s film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the technology wasn’t available to portray his vision of the film.
This film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a moon in the Alpha Centauri star system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora’s reserves of a precious mineral, called unobtanium, while the Na’vi, a race of indigenous humanoids, resist the colonists’ expansion, which threatens to exist in the Na’vi and the Pandora ecosystem. The film’s title refers to the genetically engineered Na’vi bodies used by a few of the film’s human characters to interact with the Na’vi. The man who called Jake Sully, a paraplegic former marine, replaces his twin brother, a scientist trained to be an avatar operator, who had been killed. When he understood the intentions of his bosses, he decided to help the Na’vi and to save Pandora from the human invasion.
What about characters? The main hero is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). His background as a marine helps the Na’vi warriors relate to him. I liked the actors playing. Two-thirds of the film are effects and computer graphics. But Cameron had done the technology which can transport the actor playing on the computer effects. Cameron pioneered a specially-designed camera built into 6-inch boom that allowed the facial expressions of the actors to be captured and digitally recorded for the animators to use later. The visual effects are fascinating. This science fiction story has its own soul. Don’t looking for effects and other stuffs, this film has also a good plot. Despite enjoying the effects you can also enjoy the story. I think it’s a new wave of film-industry. The locations are spectacular. The world of Pandora is so beautiful and imaginative. This world has its own trees, animals, nature. While I was seeing the film, I wanted to be there. You can’t describe this film, you should see it and then you’ll understand me. Of course, a larger part of the film are effects, but this effects will raise your level of imagination. Most of all I remembered one moment, when Sully came back to Na’vi on the specific bird (like a dragon) and Na’vi apologized to him and they won their freedom in the great battle.
All in all I want to say that this story has its own moral. This film showed us that people can only use the reserves and can’t take care of our planet and our nature. Pandora seems to our planet. We should protect our planet. This beauty can’t be destroyed. Undoubtedly I recommended to see this film. You’ll describe some new things. I’m very grateful to James Cameron, because he has done this beautiful film. The phrase of Avatar is “It’s a new world”. He created a new world. We have this world and we shouldn’t lose it we shouldn’t waste our opportunities.

P.S. Cameron said that if the film is successful, he confirmed the possibility of making sequels. I’ll wait for it. But without the second part Avatar is the best film of this year.

Sunday 2 May 2010

Announcement of Our New Blog Podcast

I'm very happy to inform you about a new gadget I've just added to our blog: our blog podcast! 

Now we can not only read the blog but also listen to it! It is a programme which automatically transforms text into speech with "near-human" quality voice. The idea is to get some extra listening practice. I hope you find it useful.

You can listen to it when you visit the blog or you can subscribe to it and enjoy our audio files anywhere, anytime and on any device! I have already done it and it works! I tried with itunes and google.
Click here to subscribe or download files.

I got this idea from the blogs of batxillerat of IES Doménec Perramon in Arenys de Munt. It's worth having a look at them! I have also added them to our section "Friend Blogs" on the right-hand column.
2nd of Bat A and 2nd of Bat B. You could subscribe to their podcasts as well  :-)


You're beautiful - James Blunt (alternative version)

I was thinking that since we missed one class last week because you went on an excursion and we didn't get any listening practice in class, why not make up for it by listening at home to this funny version of a nice old song! The good thing about the video is that it literally shows what the song is saying.
I guess you've probably seen it before, but anyway, it's good practice and it's fun to see it again!

Saturday 1 May 2010

My favourite TV programme

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My favourite TV programme is a chinese programme that has a really complicated name, so I don’t say it’s name. It’s a singing competition which is shown on TV every Friday. However, I watch it in the Internet.

The host in the show is a fairly nice woman, she is a famous singer as well. There are four o five judges in the show, and one judge is special. This special judge is changes every week, and he or she will be one famous singer o music producer. The participants are people who like singing and sing quite well. They prepared one composition and sing it. After it, the judges give them some suggestions and value it. Evey week they hang up one participant continue it until they choose the winner. In these weeks, in the show there appears one participant who was published in home news, people say that he likes Susan Boyle!!!! He sings definitelly well!!

All in all, I think it’s a programme I like a lot, because I learn about singing in this programme. It’s extremelly interesting. The host and the judges are funny and nice. I’d recommend it to my friends who like singing.