terrorism

Terrorism is a global problem. There are many ways of terrorism, one of the most recent is the informatic one, on the internet. But by now, the most common is the aggressive one, the one that causes death, terror and pain. If you read the word carefully it won't be difficult for you to understand where it comes from: the act of causing terror among people... Now think, is it a good way of trying to change things?

Of course it is not! They can't see that the only thing that terrorism gets is hate, fear and chaos.

In my opinion terrorism is the worst way of manipulation. Some organizations may even rule like a lobby, but there's no point on achieveing power by the force. We live in a democracy, and although we still have a long walk before we reach an equal society based on respect, honesty and truth, we must try to keep it improving. Terrorism is nothing but a stone on the road to freedom and we must wash it away.

How? You may ask. It's not going to be easy. I haven't said it is something we can fight within a few days. Even though, we must stand against it and try to erradicate it: together we can do anything. Together... And with some help of our governments, who must ignore any pressure they might recieve from terrorists, and also be truthful to us (but that's another issue to deal with...).

looking back

During this year I've noticed an improvement in my writing thanks to the huge amount of opinion essays we've done. Even though, I think that my best skill in English is not writing but listening and speaking. Perhaps speaking doesn't show off that much because I'm a bit shy when talking to someone who has to evaluate me, the I get nervous and start making absurd mistakes. It's been very useful for me to write that exhausting number of essays. In contrast, I don't really like writing on the blog, I prefere to handle my writings to the teacher. Something I also dislike a little is to evaluate my peers. next year I'd like to continue doing oral presentations and basically all the stuff we've been doing this year.

In conclusion, I've liked this schoolyear and I'm eager to start second of batxillerat.  

sleep for memory

Scientists in China and the US have recently discovered the connection between the quantity of sleep and the way neurons do their job. As it seems, the better and more we sleep, the better our brain works. This improvement of our sleep improves at the same time our memory. Scientists have proved with their experiment that subjects having more sleep were more likely to learn more and fatser than those sleeping less. They explain this phenomenon proving that when we sleep our brain reviews everything that we have done during the day, including that what we have studied.

I think it is fascinating to see how science can explain some incredible things such as this curious fact. Some rimes I've read in articles and books that the loss of sleep and, basically to stop sleeping, can boost our mental capacity and our brain habilites. This investigation, however, shows that it is actually the approrpiate amount of sleep what improves our mind.

More info at:  http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27695144

maleficent

Maleficent is the re-edition of the traditional Disney film Sleeping beauty. It tells the story from a different point of view, from the sight of Maleficent. At the beggining, you see a young fairy living in a magic forest. When she meets a human boy, who's come from the humanlands looking for some gemes to sell, she rapidly falls in love with him. After some years of friendship, when they are sixteen the boy kisses her promising eternal love... But this love disappears as he grows up and becomes more and more mean and ambitious. This ambition leads him to do something terrible: he betrays Maleficent when the king, in his deathbed, offers the crown to whom kills her. When he fouls her and cuts her wings, she becomes dark and dangerous and some years after that, during the new king's daughter's baptism, she appears and curses the baby. Then, the baby is sent to a cottage to be raised by three fairies who are not very able to grow up a human. Maleficent looks patienly and closely to Aurora, until something extraordinary happens...

I've really liked this film. This version of the classic offers a different point of view and represents a huge contrast with the traditional version of the sleeping beauty. Publics of all ages will enjoy this film: the little ones because of its amusing part, and the older ones because of its critical part, as well as the memory from their childhood.

welcome summer!

Welcome summer!!

Wow... It's been such a long wait for summer to come, but finally it is here. The weather is at last warm, I've finished my exams and school is about to come to an end. 

This weekend has been crazy, crazy enough to greet summer. On Friday afternoon I went to the swimming pool, as usual, but after that I went with my family to our favourite restaurant in Empuriabrava. Then, on Saturday, I woke up early to finish some stuff from school and, at eleven I met with Francesc (my new sailing partner) to train. We sailed about two hours and when we finished I rushed to Torroella de Montgrí, where I had an appointment with Vicenç Pagès (a catalan writer) for my TDR. After two hours of interview, I wandered around the streets enjoying a festival about magic they were having. Afterwards, we went to Palamós to visit my grandparents. We went shopping and then we slept in our flat by the sea.

On Sunday I woke up early in Plalamós and quickly got on the car way to st.Pere. On the road we stopped again in Torroella to have a magnific breakfast of croisants and orange juice and then we continued our return. At about eleven I arrived in st.Pere, where Carles (my coach) was waiting for me to train again with Francesc. We've sailed almost four hours and in the afternoon I've been in La Gola just enjoying the sun, the wind and basicly...  Summer!

project-based learning

Do students like learning? Of course they do. Then, why do we often think they don't? Because there IS something they dislike: the way they must learn.

What can we do to solve that? Peoject-Based learning is a new idea that promotes a more involving and motivating way of learning. PBL leads students through knowledge making them absorb plenty of new contents as well as work in a team and present their project.

As a student I enjoy PBL because it makes you more effective when searching information. It also makes you more critical with the informarion you find and, despite requiring more work, you learn a lot more than with the traditional method. Instead of swallowing units lf verbs, grammar and vocabulary you discover the words, learn the grammar and use the verbs. In addition, it improves your speaking skills and makes you more likely to work in a team with mates.

In conclusion, PBL makes learning more exciting, effective and, in fact, prepares students better for the real world.

bullying

"Bullying is an undercovered problem that affects students but also teachers, and, in fact, our educational system" -Marie Desmond, teacher and mother-

It is well-known that bullying is present in most of the schools around the world, and despite of that, we still ignore it. Why? Because it is so difficult to fight that we are lazy to do it.

A kid suffering from bullying may be ashamed of telling (or most of times scared). Sometimes not even the victim knows that he/she's being bullied because the bullies seem to be his/her friends. There are a lot of different ways to do bulling. It can be physical, psychological or it can take the appearance of tasteless, aggressive jokes.

In my opinion, we must fight all kinds of bullying. If we erradicate bullying from schools our eductaional system will work better: students will be happier and more focused on their work. There will be a better environment at school. We must change the bullies by teaching them how perjudicial their behaviour can be and how their "funny" hobby transform others, how their victims suffer.

To sum up, bullying is a great problem we must vanish from schools.

spain's king abdicates

Today, at short past ten, Mariano Rajoy, the president of Spain, appeard on an official communicate telling Spain that the king Juan Carlos the 1st had decided to abdicate and pass the crown to Felipe, his heir.

The news surprised Spain and the spanish whilst everyone was working on their jobs. By midday the breaking new had already spreaded around the country and the world. At that time, Juan Carlos have made another communicate, then talking himself about the reasons of his decision and encouraging the spanish to trust in Felipe. According to his speech, it seems that he considers he's ruled the country for long enough and it is time for his son to sit on the throne. He's also spoken about his health and the difficult moment Spain is living (the deep crisis it is suffering).

The new have instantly become trending topic on twitter and lots of politicians, economists but also citzens have given their opinion and point of view about it. It is good to remember that Juan Carlos is the third king to abdicate within a year in Europe (the Belgian and the Dutch abdicated last year). The politic tensions Spain's living with the Catalan process have become more sensible around the country, where a lot of citzens (not only catalans and euskeras) have expressed their wish to transform Spain into a republic.

As I see it, a King was very useful some time ago (...perhaps the last century?) but now, that democracy has reached its maturity, a crown has nothing to do in a country but spending its money... 

finishing 1bat

Almost nine months have passed since I started first of Batxillerat. In September, nine months looked like eternity, now, they're just dust. How have all this time flied so fast? I think I have the answer: a lot of stress and fun.

-Stress... In some ways it's been a stressful year. First, we have all the stuff to do from school plus the exams and projects. Then we have the non-stop sailing season. Between school and sailing, weeks and weekends have passed so fast that I haven't even realized. Even though, I like this lifestyle and I definetely prefere it to the boring Sunday's evenings lying on the coach waiting for a good film that never arrives...

-Fun. Despite being very buzy, I have had some time to have fun. And what's more, I have fun doing the things I do, overall, sailing. Appart from sailing, I have also enjoyed other activities, such as swimming, windsurfing... To get it better, I've been to parties, concerts, I've gone to more than a trip, I've been with my familly, etc. 

In conclusion, course 2013-14 has been very profitable: I've learnt a lot, I've enjoyed almost every second and, in fact, it's gone sooooo fast (but that's ok!).

Here you have some pictures of this year!