Game Over (Week 15)

From my viewpoint, the blog tasks have had a positive impact on my English learning due to they kept me active practicing my English grammar and vocabulary every other week. It was a little bit hard to keep doing one once a week though.

The only thing I would add is that maybe adding interactive exercises between students from the same class could be interesting. They could make interviews to each other of any kind and write down their personal responses. I think interactive exercises could be funnier and also would give students the opportunity to socialize with other people from the class. Besides, erasmus would have the opportunity to approach Spanish students :)

Have a lovely summer everyone! 💕

Connecting words (Week 12)

Morning everyone!

Today we're going to deal with academic writing and linking devices. When writing an academic text, the author needs to be aware of the use of expressions and vocabulary. The writing must be formal. The following text is an good example of an academic text. I will underline the expressions which make it formal. 

The Judiciary of England and Wales and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service pride themselves on their friendly and effective relations with other judiciaries around the world. Every year we welcome many judges from other countries who are keen to learn more about our legal system. What you see today has evolved over 1,000 years; the judiciary is continuing to change and develop to meet the needs of our society and is widely regarded as one of the best and most independent in the world.
To meet the needs of society, our legal system is also complex. The International Team of the Judicial Of ce has produced a Visitors’ Guide to bring together a wealth of information about our judiciary and legal system it also provides an introduction to the work of organisations, such as the Ministry of Justice and the Crown Prosecution Service which support the justice system.
I believe this Guide will be an invaluable resource for any foreign visitor seeking to learn more about England and Wales today, the Judiciary of England & Wales and the English and Welsh legal system, and that it will enhance the quality of your visit. Please do take the time to read it. The excellent website for the Judiciary https://www.judiciary.gov.uk covers many of the topics discussed in this Guide in more detail.
I am grateful to the International Team for their work on compiling this Guide. I very much hope your visit to England and Wales is productive and enjoyable. 
https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/international-visitors-guide-12.pdf

It can be seen a few academic examples underlined in the previous text. In general, the vocabulary used as well as expressions belong to a formal register, therefore, there are no colloquial expressions. Moreover, there are no contractions and the use of phrasal verbs help the author to avoid repeating verbs. Punctuation is correct and the information is organized which make clear the purpose of the text which is to inform the readers about the Court of England.

Linking devices also helps our purpose of writing an academic text. In the following chart we can observe a list of useful linking words.

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Today I will continue reading about Irish legends in order to finish my TFG.

Complaining (Week 11)

Hello followers! I hope you are doing okay!

Today we're going to deal with the issue of complaining. Depending on the context, you have to watch your expressions and words. In the case of formal contexts, everyone must make a correct use of their language at the same time they want to defend their point. Moreover, there are a series of phrasal verbs which can help to make clearer their opinion.

In the following chart it can be seen a few of useful examples of phrasal verbs which can help speakers to complain in a formal context:

Other phrasal verbs from the same family of the previous ones:

Cut off: to interrupt a telephone conversation. 

Call back: to telephone somebody again or in return. 

Get through: to succeed in speaking to sb on the telephone. 

Hang up: to end an activity. 

Speak up: to speak louder.
Break up: to stop being with someone.
Hold on: to wait for a shot time.
Put through: to connect.

The next text is an example of a complaint about Ryanair's services. I will underline the expressions used by the author in order to describe his complaint.

Having a bit of a hard time with Ryanair personally.

I filed a complaint, sent them an email to Ryanair Customer Service with my problems and to claim for the compensation under EU Regulation 2004/261 and they basically sent me some forms to fill in and send to One Claims Ltd (who are Ryanairs Insurance Company).  

When I sent the forms off, with the reasons for my compensation claim etc, paid to get them sent securely so that i knew they arrived .... One Claims just sent me an email saying that they only deal with insurance claims for Ryanair customers who have taken out their insurance, and that I have to get back in touch with Ryanair Customer Service team for anything to do with compensation.

Going to try again with Ryanair Customer Services, but nothing worse than having your time and money wasted due to poor service.

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Today I've been giving English lessons to my students! 

Under the weather with the weather (Week 10).

Good morning everyone! how are you? 

The weather is going to be the topic for this blog. Sometimes we struggle to look for vocabulary in relation to the weather. Here I provide you with a couple of pieces of news about weather issues. Additionally, I will underline the essential vocabulary: 

TEXT 1

The forecast for the next seven day period (1st to 7th May2018) indicates that:

1.   Rainfall is expected to continue over several parts of the Country with a general reduction in amounts and intensities.
   
2.   Significant increase in amount and intensity is expected over the Coast.
   
3.   Localized heavy showers and thunderstorms may occur over parts of the Lake Victoria Basin, the
   Highlands West of the Rift Valley, the Central and South Rift Valley, the Northwest, and the Central
   Highlands (including Nairobi), during the first half of the forecast period.
   Possible Impacts:
   
4.   Floods may continue to occur during the first half of the forecast period especially in low-lying and poorly drained areas that have already been receiving heavy rainfall.
   
5.   There may also be land-slides in areas where the soils have become saturated with rain and flood waters;
   
6.   Traffic disruptions may occur in urban areas during heavy downpours. 
   
   
   
   TEXT 2
   Under the influence of a Western Disturbance; a cyclonic circulation over Haryana and a west­east trough from northwest Rajasthan to central Madhya Pradesh in lower levels, thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and moderate squall (speed between 50 to 70 kmph) is very likely at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi and West Uttar Pradesh during next 48 hours. Hailstorm is also likely at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the same period.
   ♦ Maximum temperatures very likely to remain in the range of 40­44°C over Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Interior Maharashtra and over some parts of Telangana, Rayalaseema and interior Odisha during next 2 days.
   ♦ Thunderstorm observed at a few places over Jammu & Kashmir; at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Assam & Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura, Kerala, Coastal Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka and Tamilnadu from 0830 hours IST of yesterday to 0830 hours IST of today.
   ♦ Yesterday, Heat wave observed at one or two pockets over Vidarbha. 
   
   The majority of vocabulary underlined in the previous texts are nouns which refer to weather phenomenons such as thunderstorm or rainfall. Then, there are other expressions which describe the kind of temperature that is expected, for instance, maximum temperatures of 40-44ºC. 
   
   In the following graphs, there is the representation of the intensity of rain conditions of two particular places. 
   
   
   

   

   
   
   

   

   
   Both graphs restrict its information to rain conditions and temperature. Besides, such conditions are represented through the same method: millimeters are depicted on the left of the graph, temperature are marked on the right and time is represented horizontally. 
   
   The origin of such rain conditions is unknown, nevertheless both places must be really different in terms of weather due to the graphs' information. In the first graph, it can be seen that there is very little rain at the beginning of the year. However, there is a noticeable raising in the following months: March, April and May, being april the one with highest intensity. Following with this graph, in the summer till September, there is hardly rain. Finally, in October, November and December, there is rain expected with a reduction in December.  
   In comparison with the first graph,  the second one presents abundant rainfalls. The beginning of the year is depicted as similar to the first graphs, nevertheless, from April onwards rainfalls are significantly increasing in amount and intensity. However, December seems to reduce rainfalls as well as in the first graph.  
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   Last weekend I have been reading the book "Leprechauns, legends and Irish Tales" in order to know more about the Irish culture! 
   
   

Natural wonders (Week 9)

Morning everybody! 

Now that I have presented you with examples of how to write discursive and narrative essays, I would also like to comment on briefly how to create a descriptive essay. 
The following essay is an example of a descriptive text of the well-known Grand Canyon that I am quite sure everybody has heard about this place. Moreover, I will underline the expressions that are used to describe this place. 

The Grand Canyon is a mile-deep gorge in northern Arizona. Scientists estimate the canyon may have formed 5 to 6 million years ago when the Colorado River began to cut a channel through layers of rock. Humans have inhabited the area in and around the canyon since the last Ice Age. The first Europeans to reach the Grand Canyon were Spanish explorers in the 1540s. President Benjamin Harris first protected the Grand Canyon in 1893 as a forest reserve, and it became an official United States National Park in 1919.

The Grand Canyon is located in northern Arizona, northwest of the city of Flagstaff. The canyon measures over 270 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep, making it one of the biggest canyons in the world. This natural landmark formed about five to six million years as erosion from the Colorado River cut a deep channel through layers of rock.

The Grand Canyon contains some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth. The mile-high walls reveal a cross section of Earth’s crust going back nearly two billion years. These rock layers have given geologists the opportunity to study evolution through time.

The oldest known rocks in the canyon, called the Vishnu Basement Rocks, can be found near the bottom of the Inner Gorge. The Vishnu rocks formed about 1.7 billion years ago when magma hardened and joined this region—once a volcanic ocean chain—to the North American continent.

Today, tourists to Grand Canyon National Park can trace the canyon’s geologic history on the Trail of Time, an interpretive exhibit on the park’s South Rim.

https://www.history.com/topics/grand-canyon

In order to improve the description of this popular place, I would add the next information. Firstly, I would describe the type of climate of this place in order to depict the landscape in which it is encountered. The Grand Canyon is set in a desert, therefore it has dry weather conditions. Secondly, I would describe the colors of the rocks which are very characteristic of this place. The clay color of the Grand Canyon make of this place a striking one for tourists. 

Thirdly but not last, I would provide information about the shape of the rocks. As more specific you are describing a particular place, as more appealing your text can be! 

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This week apart from researching information to write my TFG for college, I've been looking for jobs in the USA for this summer. I'm looking forward to going for a new adventure! 

Narrative Essay Writing (Week 8)

Hello bloggers!

The last blog was about persuasive writing, in this one I'm going to deal with narrative essay writings. Finally, I'll compare both types of writing. 

The following webpages provide you with details on how to compose your narrative writing: 

1. https://fastessay.com/blog/a-step-by-step-guide-to-write-a-professional-narrative-essay/

2. www.pawneeschools.com/.../The%20Narrative%20Essay.docx (From this link you can download a PDF)  

Basically, the main characteristics to bear in mind when writing a narrative essay writing are the following ones. First of all, you need to divide your essay into three main paragraphs: introduction, body and conclusion. Specially, the body of the essay can be divided into two or more paragraphs. 

Accordingly, the information that you can find in each paragraph of the narrative essay is:

In the introduction: 

1. Where and when this story was originated. 

2. Explain how the story starts. 

3. Introduce the main characters of the plot. 

In the body:

1. Try to focus on a particular situation of the story and contextualize it.  

2. How did the characters act in such situations?

3. What effects have the characters' acts on them and how they feel. 

In the conclusion:

1. Explain what happened in the end.  

2. Summarise the emotional state of the main characters. 

The main different that narrative essays have in comparison with discursive writing is that you cannot give your point of view in narrative essays. Instead, you have to limit yourself to the discussion of the story without adding your own ideas.  

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This week I've been translating a legend due to complete the research of my TFG for college. 

Enjoy your day! 

Persuasion (Week 7)

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to deal with persuasive writing. How many expressions can we find to help us to be persuasive? 

The following expressions are useful to mean persuasion in English:
I am certain. . .
I’m sure that you can see that . . .
What needs to be done/what we need to do. . .
I ask you to think about . . .
I am writing in order to . . .
Nevertheless . . .
On the other hand . . .
It has come to my attention that . . .
If you move forward with . . .
Obviously. . .
Surely . . .
Regardless . . .
If [ ] were to happen, then . . .
This can be fixed by . . .
Although it may seem...

The previous examples can be found in  https://www.thoughtco.com/words-to-make-a-persuasive-argument-2086735

Other expressions that may help to adopt a persuasive tone:

I am speaking to you today because...
This needs to be dealt with 
It will ruin our quality of life. 
No-one but a complete idiot will believe that... 
Of course... 
Local people feel that... 
This will mean that... 
Another thing... 
Just think about... 
How could you (we) possibly... 
What would happen if... 
Do you want to be part of... 

In the following text, the writer is giving his opinion about the matter of lockers at school. I will underline the expressions that s/he uses for hypothesising: 

Lockers for Everyone

What would you think if you had to put your personal belongings in a crate, and every time you turn around something of yours were stolen? That is why I think students should have lockers. To protect their things, keep their things somewhere clean, and so they won't have to complain about carrying everything at once.

Students should have lockers because it will stop people from stealing their stuff.  For example, the children won't have to worry about their books, homework assignments, and personal belongings being stolen. The reason for this is that the children will have their own lockers plus their own locks, which only they have the combination to.  This will reduce cases where things are being stolen.

Students also should have lockers so they will have a clean place to put their books. What I mean by this is that many desks are rusty and have gum stuck under them.  Also, if you put you stuff into a crate then it is easily collecting dust. This connects to my argument because their stuff will be kept very clean in a neat environment if students are given lockers to use.  

My final reason why I think students should have lockers is so students won't complain about caring everything at once. The things that they may be caring everyday are very heavy.  This is important because students may suffer health problems from having to carry all their stuff everywhere.  Why carry books everyday why you can eliminate the pain by having a locker to store the things you don't need?  Also, they're always whining about having to carry all their books.  If we had lockers everyone would be happier.

          In conclusion I think students should have lockers. If we have lockers stealing in school would go down, it would create a safe and clean place for students to put their things, and students would complain less and be healthier.  If we had lockers, the school would be a happier place for everyone.  If you don't want your things stolen, contact your principal and demand lockers for your school.

https://www.ereadingworksheets.com/writing-worksheets/persuasive-essay-examples.htm

The writer uses several underline expressions in order to point out his opinion. Besides, the persuasive tone that s/he adopts in the text helps to highlight his hypothesis. 

I hope my blog gives you an idea about how to be persuasive through your writing. 

Have a good week!

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This week I've been translating an Irish legend written in Old English into Spanish. Such a challenging task to do!