Oh,no!!! My battery is flat!!

Nowadays, we are surrounded by technology, this technology must be fed with electricity so scientists must invent batteries to store the electricity. Now, let's talk about usual problems that we have with batteries.

The small technological devices usually have a small battery, this is the case of mobile phones which have batteries with rectangular shape which can last hours or even days. A normal battery usually lasts between one and two days. This is the main reason why people look at the quality of the battery when they go to buy a mobile phone. It depends on the amount of amperes it has. Another problem I want to talk about is the following: how to know if a battery is broken. If your mobile phone's battery doesn't last much time it can be because the battery is broken. To check this, you must remove the battery from the mobile and see if the battery is flat or swelled on its sides. If the battery has its faces swelled, the battery will is broken.

The last thing I'm going to talk about is: Can the electricity from the humans bodies replace batteries? We generate a small electricity in our body because of the nerve impulses. However, this electricity we generate is not enough to a machine or to a small electronic system because these things need more energy.

To sum up, batteries are a general problem we have. However scientists are developing new batteries with silicon that last more and pollute less.

Joaquín España 2ºBACH

Mass tourism can kill our cities

Nowadays, Spain is one of the three most visited countries in the world. Millions of tourists come here and enjoy their holidays, either in winter, in summer, in spring or in autumn. Spain has become one of the most touristically attractive places to visit in the world.

In this new post, they tell dofferent matters concerning this issue that is happening in Barcelona and in Turkey. What is happening in these places? In Barcelona, mass tourism is a problem, many tourists are visiting Barcelona each year and inhabitants of Barcelona are very worried about the situation because if resources wear out, it will be a big problem. This is a real problem because Barcelona is a city of 2 million inhabitants that hosted 7.5 million tourists last year. This is more than four times the local population.

In contrast, in Turkey it is happening the opposite. The country welcomed 40 million tourists last year, but millions are rethinking their plans following a major terrorist attack on Istanbul's main airport in June and Friday's deadly attempted coup. These continuous attacks and terrorism alarms are damaging the image of Turkey as a safe country.

In my opinion, the government should take action in Barcelona with a new system of tourism which controls the amount of tourists in this city. In the case of Turkey, I think the government should protect more the airport and the city to prevent this type of attacks.

Joaquín España 2ºBACH

Do you consider yourself an honest person or...?

Since we were kids our parents, uncles, aunts, family in general told us that we must always tell the truth. We have been educated not to lie. However, when we grow we realize that it is not always convenient to tell the truth and it's better to tell a little lie.

On the one hand, there are people who are truthful and who don't like deceiving other people to get something, although there are some situations where they must do it. Then, when they lie they feel bad because they have a psychological make up of an honest person.

On the other hand, there are people who love lying, who get up and go to bed lying. This kind of people are untrustworthy because you can't rely on them, they might be saying the truth or the opposite. Moreover, they don't feel guilty of what they do, they think their behaviour is normal and that is a big issue because if all people thought the same, the world would be a hostile place.

To conclude, I think that not to lie is like a discipline which has to be teached since since we born. From my point of view, I'm an honest person and I always tell the truth. Politicians should do the same and not to lie so many times.There is a well known proverb by Benjamin Franklin which is this: “Honesty is the best policy”.

Joaquín España 2ºBACH

Laughing or not laughing? That is the question.

The action of laughing is something natural and normal for humans. We don't know exactly why we laugh, but most times it isn't produced by a joke, it's a reflex act that we do unconsciously. Moreover, we are very lucky because it's free and it doesn't make us do a big effort. Let's talk something about it.

Studies of numerous universities have tested that we laugh about seven times every ten minutes when we are talking with someone. However, there is controverial with this theme because some studies say that laughing is like a medicine which increases the level of natural killer cells and reduce the level of cortisol in our blood flow. Ancient studies said that the force of laughing could dislocate jaws, prompt asthma attacks, cause headaches, make hernias protrude and that could provoke cardiac arrhythmia, syncope or even emphysema. Nowadays, new studies have shown these statements were too exaggerated.

From my point of view, I think laughing is extremely good for your health, it reduces the level of stress and it makes your life easier to face. That's the main reason I try to smile and laugh as much as I can. I'm almost all the time smiling and I laugh a lot with my reduced group of friends.


Joaquín Alejandro España Sánchez 2ºBACH

Looking at the sky expecting some rain, but when??

When will it rain? Are you expecting some rain? The current situation of Europe is becoming more serious than we thought. Summer has just finished and Autumn has started, and it hasn't rained yet. According to experts, 2016 had broken the record for the hottest year ever previously held by far, until 2017 came. This issue affects, above all, farmers who have to feed their animals. Let's talk a bit about this:

Spanish farmers are suffering much these droughts of these last months. There are many farmers in Extremadura who have big lands of pastures and the grass is getting drier and drier and pale brown. This fact makes them spend big quantities of money on grass, water, fodder,etc. They say that this is the worst year they have ever had in the past decade. If these droughts, floods and storms go on, they can make farmers go into the red.

To end, I think this situation might be provoked by our fault because we are responsible of pollution and of the global warming, which is increasing the level of seas. However, we can only pray for some rains now and hope the future will be better.

Glossary: drought, flood, storms, climatic hazards, glacier-melting levels, sea level.

Joaquín Alejandro España Sánchez 2ºBACH

Hairstyles and changing your mind

Do you care much for your hair? It is like your little baby? Nowadays, people have different styles and forms of getting dressed, getting their hair styled.... Sometimes, the way people are combed tells us a lot about him or her. If you see a person with spiky and very long hair, you may think that he is a person with character, personality and this even makes you afraid to talk with him or her. In contrast, if you see a person with a normal hairstyle, with hair down and with not much difficulty of combed, you might think that he is a sociable and friendly person.

Mainly, the women change more their hairstyles than the men. They often dye their hair of different colours, they cut it, they make curious hairstyles.....etc. It is like a tradition for them. However, men also like have their hair cut and curious. In my case, I'm having my hair cut every month. I go to a barber in Motril and he cuts my hair, this weekend, I'm cutting my hair because I have asked the barber for an appointment.

Concluding, hairstyles can make us have a first impression of somebody, of his personality, his character, his way of being...Not only women care for their hair, men too. The more time passes, the more strange hairstyles will appear.


Joaquín Alejandro España Sánchez 2ºBACH

False impressions

Do you trust first impressions? Do you think the first impressions you have of a person when you first meet him/her are important? or are they just a mask to hide his or her real personality? Here is the key question. First, I'm going to talk about how important first impressions are, later, I'm going to talk about their consequences in the society and finally, I'll give my point of view about this issue.

Nowadays, having good impressions are very important when you meet new people, when you arrange a date, if you are looking for a job,.....The way you talk, you dress, you see, you behave,....can make a better or a worse impression of you. When you meet a person you should watch him or her in detail, focus on what he says or on how he says it. Then you should decide what kind of relationship you are going to have with him or her. However, I think you must make sure he isn't lying you because false impressions can also exist. There are many people who lie to give a false image of him or her. In Spanish this action is known as selling someone the motorbike.

From my point of view, first impressions haven't got more importance than really knowing a person. This is what I think because in my case, I'm a very friendly and cheerful person, but when I meet someone I'm more serious and shy than usual. I think you should get to know a person by telling him or her about your private life or your secrets, is convenient be a prudent person than being very social for the first time.


Joaquín España 2ºBACH

Who are healthier, adults or teenagers?

Today, most people are worried about their bodies and about what people say about them. For this reason, many adults do exercise everyday and try to have a healthy lifestyle. But...do all teenagers become healthy adults when they grow up? Recent studies from different universities have shown that there is a bigger probability that healthy teenagers will be healthy adults in the future.

Studies have tested that Britain has the less active population of the world, that's the main reason why it has one of the most obese population in the world. Scientists have studied this fact, and they confirm that most of them are caused by bad habits during their adolescence. Teenagers that are obese will become obese adults in the future.

From my point of view, teenagers tend to be healthier now than before. They care more about their appearance, their body and most of them practise some sport like football, tennis, basketball or simply they have healthy habits with the food they eat or things like that. In my case, I think I'm quite healthy because I practise karate and moreover I usually go to the gym. Furthermore, I don't eat food with much fat and I try to avoid unhealthy foodstuff. For me, sport is like another life and I think I will become in a healthy adult.

Joaquín España 2ºBACH 

This is not life, but HELL!!!

Summer holidays finished a month ago and we've already started the school year. All those positive feelings we had about the new school year have disappeared and there are people who are already tired of bachillerato and it's only the beginning! The first day of classes you feel strange because after almost three months of holidays it is hard to restart again. However, after a week I am sure you get used to the routines again. Let's talk about my summer holidays.

These summer holidays I've been very busy. I want to pass my driving exam this year so I've been going the months of July and August to Molvízar almost everyday. In fact, Molvízar has become something like my second town, I know all streets and I talk with many people from there. Nonetheless, I haven't only been in Molvízar, all years my parents, my brother and I go to our cottage in Itrabo. There, we have a big swimming pool and we also have a big country house. That's very pleasant, because there is no noise, traffic jams, pollution,.... it's in the middle of the countryside so you can relax and think about your life calmly.

Talking about my summer holidays, the days I've enjoyed the most were in Carchuna's parties and I'm Molvízar's parties. I stayed at my friend's house during three or four days and we had much fun. Although I went to many parties, I spent most of the summer with only one friend in Itrabo. That's the main reason why not all people you speak to want to be with you in their lives. This sounds a bit sad, but I'm very happy of my summer :).

Concluding, in summer you can do all things you want and you have lot of time for them so I also want to say that I've advanced in this school year doing comments and works for my English teacher because I want to be more relaxed this school year with English.

Joaquín España 2ºBACH 

Teachers are unbeatable!!!

Nowadays, the advance of technology is changing our lives at an incredible pace. In this old post Albert put in his blog, they ask us if computers could replace real teachers at schools and they ask for what things machines can't do, let's talk about this.

First of all, I'm going to talk about some jobs that have been replaced by machines. This is the case of many big shopping malls, where shop assistants have been replaced by cash tills. It has happened in Alcampo in Motril. The worst thing of this advance is that many employees have been laid off their jobs, increasing the number of unemployed.

As far as I'm concerned, there aren't machines that have replaced teachers. For me, a teacher can't be replaced by any machine because a teacher can set you challenges to overcome, if you don't understand something, he can explain it to you by many different ways until you understand it, he can support you with some ideas.... All these things can't be done by machines. From my point of view, technology is like a tool which many teachers use to teach. Nonetheless, technology doesn't teach us.

Composition 2

The moment of truth is right here!!!

Yes, the moment of truth is right here!! This third term will be really short and it is time for students to do their best, especially those in Bachillerato or those preparing for certain exams.

 

Now you have to be flexible and ready to work in a broader range of jobs, so you'll need a university degree, a good level of foreign languages and so many more things. Here are some articles to read about the issue before you do the listening exercise I propose you:

• Guardian Jobs advice on how to write a CV (The Guardian)

• Pros and Cons of Being a Job-Hopper (The Washington Post)

• Is one career enough? (BBC radio programme)

   

  Listening exercise to do: Multiple careers (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English) 

  Learn 'How I learned Spanish! My journey to fluency' with Lucy

  Let's revise some Linking words of PURPOSE with this video >>>

   

Couchsurfing is no picnic

Again it is getting hotter and hotter, but we are getting tired of going to the beach!!! First, this post would like to present these two expressions you can find in the section The English We Speak (BBC Learning English):

 

• No picnic   >>>  What does it mean in Spanish?

• Wet weekend   >>>>  Was last weekend a wet weekend for you?

And here's the solution for those who haven't got much money and feel bored of doing the same things all over again  >>>   COUCH SURFING (Listening exercise, 6 Minute English, BBC Learning English).

Some related articles:

• Couch surfing reaches one million! 

• Best of the net: Couchsurfing - the reality (The Guardian) 

• Why I'd rather take a free couchsurfer than make money from Airbnb  (The Guardian)

 

By the way, do you know what Airbnb is? It comes from two concepts: 'airbed' and 'bed & breakfast'.

Best songs for summer 2017

Summer is a wonderful time to relax, to dance and for music. There will always be songs that bring you unforgettable memories for the rest of your life. Give me some hits of your best songs in English for this summer. Here are some songs that may be popular this summer:

 

English with Lucy: 5 English conversation tips  >>>  How to improve your communication skills. They could be really useful for flirting this summer!!!

 

 

 

Unbearable conditions at our schools

Can teachers really teach and can our students really learn in these weather conditions? Some politicians think we can from their air-conditioned offices!!!!

Teaching in the heatwave: help, my classroom is too hot (The Guardian)

Where does the word 'unbearable' mean? Which verb does it come from?

Some articles to read about the heatwave we have had in Europe and its consequences (for instance, huge fires in Portugal and Spain)   >>>> 

• Weather alerts across western Europe as heatwave sets in (The Guardian)

• Hottest June day since summer of 1976 in heatwave (BBC)

• Portugal forest fires under control after more than 60 deaths (The Guardian)

 

Listening exercise to do: Mindfulness (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)

Where does the noun 'mindfulness' come from?

LINGOHACK  >>>

• Episode 170621 / 21 June 2017   >>>  Expressions presented: immune system, buzz & mammals.

Anyway, what kind of holidays are you planning to have? Perhaps a busman's holiday (The English We Speak, BBC Learning English)

Do you trust first impressions?

Do you trust first impressions or do you need more time to get to know a person and then decide what kind of relationship you are going to have with him/her?

Listening exercise to do: Faces and first impressions (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)

 

Which verb does the adjective 'trustworthy' come from? What does it mean?   

 

What does the expression 'to go with your gut' mean?

 

 

Article to read about the issue:

First Impressions: what can babies see? (The Guardian)

 

 

What does 'a drill' mean? It has got mainly two meanings. Here's one from the point of view of teachers:  DRILLING TECHNIQUE (The teachers' room, BBC Learning English)

Is Television helpful or harmful for our society?

Here are some articles to read about the issue:

• Television – not in front of the children? (The Guardian)

• Watching too much TV in your 20s may impact how your brain works in mid-life, study suggests (The Washington Post)

• How soap operas changed the world (BBC)

• Television isn't a bad influence on society after all (The Guardian)

 

Crossword on TELEVISION (BBC Learning English)

Vocabulary and Listening exercise to do: Language to use in research (English at work, BBC Learning English)

LINGOHACK  >>>

• Episode 170419 / 19 April 2017   >>>  Expressions presented: tunnelling, put a spin on & camaraderie.

 

 

Travelling to Ibiza and Dronies

Do you like travelling and making photographs?

Here's a Selectivity exam the University of Granada proposes to do: Welcome to Las Dalias Hippy Market (you can find a link to download the exam in my site: 2º Bachillerato) and here are some articles related to the issue you can read:

• Holiday guide to Ibiza: the best beaches, clubs, hotels, bars and restaurants (The Guardian)

• Mini-guide to rural Ibiza (BBC)

• Ibiza: Far from the clubbing crowd (The Daily Telegraph)

• The hippy is back: not so cool if you remember it the first time round (The Guardian)

  
  

  

  And when travelling, photos are just essential. However, there is a new trend these days that you can read about in this proposed Selectivity exam (Dronies: a new trend to replace selfies  >>  again you can find a link to download a copy of the exam in my site: 2º Bachillerato  ) and in these related articles:

   

•   Forget selfies - how 'dronies' could be the next big photography trend (The Daily Telegraph)

• ‘Dronies' may become new trend to replace selfies (New York Daily News)

Discovering Veracruz in Mexico taking dronies, selfies.. Just amazing!!

 

It won't wash

Sometimes we find that politicians, or anyone else, are not telling the truth, and nothing but the truth, so you use this expression. Read about what it really means.

The English we speak: It won't wash (BBC Learning English) 

Articles related with the issue:

• FBI chief James Comey fired by Trump (BBC)

• Trump fires FBI director Comey, raising questions over Russia investigation (The Guardian)

• White House ‘systems failed’ with Comey firing, but Trump pushed the buttons (The Washington Post)

Listening exercise to do: How much food do you waste? (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)

LINGOHACK  >>>

• Episode 170510 / 10 May 2017   >>>  Expressions presented: condition, draw & is down to.

 

Shorter attention span, a problem for our students?

Lately, teachers are always complaining of how difficult it is to keep students' attention in class to what is being done. Here may be the cause.

 

 

Listening exercise to do: Goldfish, brain and phones (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)

 Some articles to read about the issue >>> 

• Say it quick, say it well – the attention span of a modern internet consumer (The Guardian)

• Is technology and the internet reducing pupils' attention spans? (The Guardian)

• You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish (Neuroscience, Time Health)

• Humans have shorter attention span than goldfish, thanks to smartphones (The Telegraph)

And talking about another problem that affects us these days, here we have some articles concerning attacks that we have suffered:

• Ransomware cyber-attack threat escalating - Europol (BBC)

• Manchester attack: What we know so far (BBC News)

What does 'foyer' mean? Which language does it come from? Can you give me a synonym?

We should all be really happy!!!!

I don't know if happiness is genetic or not, but something is for sure there are some people that are naturally more cheerful than others. As well, babies tend to be happier than adults (probably due to all the problems and concerns that we have in mind). Another interesting fact is that grandparents also tend to be happier than parents. It may be due to the fact that they have fewer responsabilities in life. 

Read these related articles and to the listening exercise later, and then give me your opinion about the issue:

• Happiness linked to a gene that comes in long and short versions (The Guardian)

• ‘Happy gene’ may increase chances of romantic relationships (The Guardian)

• Genes 'play key happiness role' (BBC)

Listening exercise to do: Is happiness genetic? (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English) 

 

English with Lucy: 6 ways to STOP translating in your head & THINK in another language!

 English with Lucy: 10 English LOVE expressions

LINGOHACK  >>>

• Episode 170614 / 14 June 2017   >>>  Expressions presented: set off, the wild & volunteers.

Veganism and climate change

Do these two concepts have anything in common? Read this post about the issue and do this Selectivity exam:

Eating less meat could save 45,000 lives a year, experts claim

Articles related to the issue which are interesting for you to read:

• Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say (The Guardian)

• Go vegan, save the planet (CNN)

• Is a vegetarian diet really better for the environment? Science takes aim at the conventional wisdom. (The Washington Post)

  Here there is the URL of a video:

 https://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2015/07/07/150707Vegan_desk.mp4

Listening exercise to do: Could you go vegan? (6 Minute English, BBC Learning English)

What does 'vegan' stand for? Can you give me a definition?

English with Lucy: Oxford English

 

Over to you (Composition Unit 8)

          Nowadays, we usually forget many things such as where the keys are, where we had to go, what we got up for.....These are some of the most common things that happen to us.


          In my case, I have a good memory, I can learn many words or texts in  a short time. However, it isn't the first time I have forgotten something. Once, I went to my friend´s house  and I forgot where I had put my keys. I couldn´t go back home until I found them. What a stressful situation!!


          From my point of view, one interesting thing is how we can remember new English vocabulary. Many people have a vocabulary because they have read many books. If I read more books, my vocabulary will improve. In my opinion, it's good to repeat the word many times and write it into Spanish, it's what I do.


          To end up, I want to say that there are lots of ways to improve your memory like board games, crosswords, sudokus....that will help you to keep your memory fit.