5th C1 writing - Write five paragraphs in answer to questions regarding work

Is dealing with other people an important part of your work?

Dealing with other people has always been an important part of my job. I have worked as a waitress, as a shop assistant in a DIY warehouse, as a logistic operator in a transport company…so I have always been in contact with customers, suppliers, etc.

Is being able to make your own decisions at work important for you?

I reckon that being able to make my own decisions has been a constant, not only in my work but also in my life. Sometimes when for your circumstances in life you are obliged to mature so young that gives you a different point of view, and you are able, at least emotionally, to challenge any sort of decisions.

Does learning new things help to keep you motivated?

I keep myself motivated by learning new things. As an example I can say that when I was 22, I started a course of Basic Language, one of the beginnings of the technological world, and that helped me to find a job. The reason was that the company was searching for a person with this kind of knowledge to implement a new form of doing the bills, letters, budgets, etc.

Does working under pressure make you work better?

Probably as a consequence of a physical process, working under pressure makes me work better. As the physics explains, the increment of stress builds up the production of serotonin and endorphin, which improves the harmony between the two hemispheres of the brain.

Does having to work with incompetent people get you down?

Having to work with incompetent people around has usually the opposite effect on me. They make me do my job as well as I can and, on some occasions, it  gets out of me the disposition to help and taught them how to improve their results, in case that I have the knowledge to do it.

4th C1 writing - Answers ex.2 unit 2 Opinions

When were you last on a steep learning curve? What was the most difficult thing to learn?

When I started my last job I was really interested in doing things as well as I could, because I was making a substitution for a worker that was ill. He had announced to the company his pretensions of moving to his hometown, Lyon, when he would recover from his illness. So, my contract could be indefinite depending on my results during a short period of probation. The most difficult thing to learn was the specific transport vocabulary in French. Then, I was pretty fluent in this language, but I had not any clue of the nouns of materials used in transport issues, the types of loads, and all the stuff like that, totally necessaries to make me understandable by clients and suppliers. Had I not had the help of my department’s mates, I would not achieve the goal of learning all that I needed.

In what situations do you always trust your instincts?

I always trust my instincts when it comes to meet new people in personal or job relationships. I am not prone to classifying people for the first sight; I prefer taking it easy and get into discovering them, their attitudes, feelings, etc… through time. I regret having done this classification once; I made myself a very bad first opinion of a particular person, who finally became a good friend of mine. But for improving my decisions, I would like follow my first sensations, my instincts, which nearly ever I fail in making confidence in the correct person, and I do not anticipate the decision until I arrive to know this person well.

Have you ever told yourself “never give up”? What was the situation?

I told myself never give up when it comes to learning languages. I loved studying these subjects since I was young. When I finished secondary school I was really interested in continue studying French, but out of necessity I started to work with my family in a restaurant, and I could not continue, as I wanted to do. Finally I found time to do it; then I was studying 3th of French al the Liceu Français and I had the chance to become official student at EOI Drassanes doing 1st course of English and German, all at the same time. The same year, 1986, in June, I changed my work situation, and my boss did not allow me to change my shift to attend classes on September, so I lost my official status as a EOI student and could not continue the 2nd course. This turned into a challenge for me. I am talking around 26 years ago, and when I had the opportunity, I returned to this subject. It was possible during a summer course in 2009; I got into English. Probably if I had known my present situation when I started to work for this company in 1986, I would have been more insistent with my boss, because it has been too hard for me studying at my age, combining that with my family, my work, and all that stuff.

Can you thing of a great event or person that had a profound effect on you?

Without any kind of doubt my mother had a profound effect on me. She was a very strong woman, probably because of her experiences in life. She always said to me her point of view about the necessity of learning, the value of the effort for every thing that you want to do in your life. Her values and bravery gave me a way of facing my life that has helped me to enhance my character after her death, when I was only 26. But for my trust in her, I would never have found the strength for taking care of the rest of my family, my father and my brother, my husband and the daughter that I was pregnant only one month before her death. I only regret not being as brave as she was.

Has anyone ever told you to “believe in yourself”? Who? When? Why?

It was my husband who told me to believe in myself when, in 1999, I was proposed to be included in a political candidature, in a place suitable to be elected as a town councilor for the first time. I was really scared. I had not any experience at this field, I felt unable to take that responsibility. He made me think about my strong character, my perseverance, and my willpower during all my adult life. He was totally sure that I was able to do it and now, nearly 13 years later, I could say that probably without his support and confidence on me, I would not never have taken this decision.

3rd C1 writing - My Moodle profile

Hello, mates!!!

I am ........ and I was born in December, the same year The Beatles released their fourth album, - Beatles for Sale, so I am nearly 48. And, curiously, I was born on the same day, the 16th, that my parents got married two years before. I am the older sibling in my little family, my brother is only fifteen months younger than me. We were born in the same city we have been living in ever since, which is Montcada i Reixac. Our parents were migrants from Extremadura, where my brother and I went on summer holidays, until we were teenagers, to have a really fun time with our cousins.

I have always loved studying languages, since my first French teacher introduced me to this subject during primary school. She was an excellent teacher, a person who had a great ability to encourage people to make themselves able to be understood in French by other people. This was the seed….since then I have always been interested in making myself understandable … but not always have I achieved this goal. My usual languages are Spanish and Catalan, I speak a few basic words of German, I can politely greet people in Greek, I get by in Italian and used to be fluent in French, even though it is a bit rusty nowadays. I have been studying English here since September 2009 and I am trying to improve it day by day. And my challenge will probably be to get into University to study a degree related to Languages….when I could have the time to do it.

I want to explain something related to my job, well my first job was as a waitress in the family restaurant when I was thirteen…and my last job was as a logistic operator in a transport company. At this moment, and since 1999, I have been elected town councillor in Montcada.

I am a very positive person, probably because the bad experiences in my life have taught me how to appreciate every little thing. I am married, next year we will celebrate our silver wedding anniversary, and we have the most wonderful, intelligent and responsible daughter that you can imagine. When I have time to spare, which is not very often, I like swimming and I really love reading and travelling.

I hope I will enjoy this course with all of you!!!

2nd C1 writing - Talking about habits

I am quite an odd woman when it comes to choosing clothes. I will plan what I need before to go shopping. Then I have a tendency to always go to the same shops, probably because, as a rule, I will find for sure what I am looking for. I am inclined to make this type of buying clothes probably as a consequence of a bad experience when I was young. Nine times out of ten I could not find what I needed, and I know myself very well and I am prone to being very disappointed with these situations. So now I keep on choosing my clothes by this way, and I will never be angry.

I was taught at a very early age on getting up at the first sound of my clock. I started to work with my parents in a restaurant when I was thirteen and then we got up at five in the morning. I love them for this habit, because I am always getting up early without any kind of difficulty, and I love starting the day before the rest of people do. Now, as a rule, I tend to get up at a quarter past six, I keep having a very complete breakfast before going out of home, and I will go to the swimming pool to swim one thousand metres. After that, I am always feeling in better mood to go work.

As a holiday planner I have suffered a big transformation after being married. When I was single and without compromise, too many years ago, I would spend a little time doing it.  Nine times out of ten I only bought a train ticket to start my journey and have a backpack as a baggage. I was always looking for new places to know and new people to meet. But now that is different, because my partner does not like this “adventurous” form of travelling, so we will spend time together deciding when, where and for how much time we will stay on holidays. We have a tendency to choose quiet cities, wonderful county towns or not very crowded beaches for our holiday. And, for sure, we go on holiday with the return ticket bought in advance, a thing that I had never done before.

I am always travelling on the metro when it comes to going to Barcelona out of a meeting. I will do that especially for my comfort, and also to save some money. I am inclined to be nervous if there is a traffic jam that could make me be late. I hate that bad habit, so I am prone to start my journey from my office to Barcelona with plenty of time. I will start by the train, because I live in a town near Barcelona with five train stations but it has only one stop of metro. Nine times out of ten I will arrive at my destination relaxed, with enough time to make a coffee and only paying, for now, 0,945 €

1st C1 writing - She is who she is

Her name is Gloria Caballero and she is a new classmate of mine this year. She preferred answering the interview about her job. She is a lawyer and she has been doing this job for eleven years now. She needed to study a lot to do it, a full degree before the Bologna system, which means five years studying. There are two more lawyers in her family, her uncle and a cousin, but she has any work relation with them. She is very satisfied with her job, because she has always wanted to be a lawyer, and it is quite an important part of her life.

A client who congratulates her on a good job in a trial is what she enjoys the most about her job. But not always all can be fine... she did not enjoy her timetable, that is a difficult one because she works a lot of hours and seems to be under pressure. And what was her answer to the question of being a lawyer all her life? It was a very positive one. Despite the fact that hers is a hard job, she wants to continue in the same job for the rest of her life; she is proud of her job. This desire could probably be related to the opportunities that her job has allowed her to know interesting people, to have some remarkable experiences and to make journeys abroad in order to give her clients legal assistance.

8th writing - For and against composition about homosexual marriage and adoption

In the first place, only in seven countries around the world the law considers the possibility of marriage for same sex couples (2010 data). Furthermore, these countries have regulations on assisted reproduction and a regime of open affiliation. But this is a small container for all the gay community expectations. To begin with this controversial issue, the essential point is to set the situation within context. The reality now for homosexual couples that want to start a common life, exercising all their rights, is extremely difficult in a great number of countries. 

The most important disadvantage is those people who are against these laws claim that children need a father and a mother for their integral development. It is often suggested that homosexuals’ adoption would be detrimental to the upbringing of these children. In fact, to contradict this argument, the real situation is that a great percentage of abuses to children (psychical, sexual, etc…) are being done by their heterosexual parents or relatives. Another argument that they use is that it would create chaos in the adoption registry. Many people argue that it is not necessary to approve gay marriage or adoption, because most of the benefits of a marriage can be regulated through legal agreements (inheritance, transmission of goods, properties, etc.). Last but no least for people who are against the establishment of these laws is that they consider marriage as an essentially heterosexual institution, and the application of these rights for homosexual people imply the distortion of this concept and its perversion. 

Taking everything into account, I can conclude that marriage is only a word that means “the state or relationship, the act or legal contract, the civil o religious ceremony during which this act is performed, a joining together as a union” and adoption means “to take a child into the family through legal means, to educate and take care of her or him as one's own child”.

On the other hand, people who agree with these laws illustrate another category of arguments, like the right of everyone to be happy, be free and have equality according to the rules. For them, laws should grant everyone rights, no matter your sexual orientation. One point of view in favour is that the current adoption law does not require being heterosexual to adopt. In fact, many gay couples raise their children, adopted by one of the members, or conceived through assisted fertilization methods. This is one of the aspects that people who are in favour of this change in the law feel as a great disadvantage, because the parent has no hereditary link with the children, and cannot take care of them in the case of death of the adopter. People in favour also note that the family, as a social institution, is a product subject to changes, and is permeable to the cultural and environmental modifications, so the rules and laws must change with the objective of accompanying cultural and social changes. Finally, we must also take into consideration the rights of millions of orphan children that are waiting for a family, living in extremely bad conditions and without any hope, who could have an opportunity to be adopted with these changes in the laws.

All of these changes in attitudes, types of families and welfare state, which mirror our current society, have to have their reflection in laws, and changes in the rules must be done. And who has to do this, am I wondering? It is the responsibility of our political representatives in the Parliaments. They are elected to defend our rights and propose the development of laws that do not fit with the current reality. Because of the reasons expressed in favour of the changes in the law that will allow homosexual couples to marry and adopt, it is high time our sexual orientation was not used by slick politicians in order to avoid their job as representatives of all the citizens. The politicians have the obligation to develop laws that grant the same rights for all of us.

7th writing- A film review – The kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a 2007 film directed by Marc Forster and based on the book of the same name by Khaled Hosseini, which was published in Britain in 2003 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. I could not compare this film with others by the same director, because he is totally unknown to me.

This is the story of Amir, an Afghan man who explains his experience of life in Afghanistan and how he fled the country after the Soviet invasion. He also tells his change of status in Fremont, California, his trip to Afghanistan to retrieve Hassan's son and his return to America.

The film begins in San Francisco, where Amir lives with his wife Soraya. They are unpacking the first copies of his first book "A Season for Ashes", which has been sent by his producer and suddenly he receives an intriguing call from his father's old friend, Rahim Khan.

The film is a coming and going between past and present. It recalls Amir’s childhood and his experiences with his father, Agha Sahib, with his servant Ali and Ali’s son, Hassan. We could be part of the story of a complicated life, his sense of desolation and distance from his father became hurtful. His past is a time in which Amir is torn between his weaknesses in front of other boys their age and his fortune to have a strong and famous father, but who does not pay him much attention. Amir fills his life with his love of reading and writing, the adventures with Hassan, with whom he has grown and shared games. Rahim Khan also has an important role in his environment. He is a partner and friend of his father who supported Amir’s love for writing and listened to him when Agha Sahib was deaf.

This childhood is shattered by two events that marked Amir for ever; he and Hassan won a renowned winter kite tournament in Kabul, but the end of the day is bloody. Hassan is raped by Assef, a tortuous, violent youngster, and Amir witnesses the fact and does not intervene to save his friend Hassan. This secret is the trigger of his guilt.

The coup in Afghanistan and the subsequent Soviet invasion are the reasons for his trip to America. He and his father try to lead a simple life and to carve out a future for themselves in a country with different customs and where they were initially welcomed with suspicion.

In Fremont he met his wife, Soraya, with whom Amir gets married after following the strict Afghan’s rules of courtship. In Fremont also his father died. After receiving the call from Rahim Khan Amir decides to return to Kabul. On this trip back to his country, through Pakistan, the memories haunt him. The experiences and the reality of his country at war and under the power of the Taliban scare him again. He returned to Afghanistan and to his past to rescue the son of Hassan, Sohrab, from the hands of the Taliban, and he does it even if it costs him having to face one of his ghosts, Assef, again.

I loved the photography and music that accompany this stark story. They exceptionally involve the complicated atmosphere that floats throughout the film. The actors align themselves with shocking reality, they seem to be very implicated and make you part of the sensations; pain, jealousy, hope and fear are obvious. The plot is devastating, vivid and compelling and you find yourself in the story of Amir, even though this is not your intention.

I recommend this film but only if you like drama, it is not a funny story. Although, as it happens to me, whenever I see a movie based on a book I have read, I warn you that if you are planning to read the book, you had better to see the movie first and enjoy the book afterwards. And why do I make this recommendation? Because movies always run faster, they jump over details that have drawn your attention in the written story and that do not appear on the screen.

In this film an example of these missing details is Hassan's cleft lip, which in the book is the subject of an unexpected birthday gift for the young Hassan and a scar on Amir's memory when he goes to Kabul to rescue Sohrab. Nothing is told in the film about Sohrab's suicide attempt, the complications that Amir has to recover himself from the beating after the rescue, the difficulties to get the boy out of the country. And there's a scene, the flight of Amir from Assef's house after receiving a brutal beating, which reflects the situation of the escape in a totally opposite way as it is explained in the book, in which incidentally it is much more credible.

I must also note that if you have thought that the movie is hard, then you should better not read the book, since it is far more explicit in some scenes, such as the one of the rape, and it may even hurt feelings. This scene is softened in the movie, like others of a violent nature that do not reflect accurately what the book says.

6th writing - Letter to a close friend about your/somebody else’s current or former priorities in life

Dear Mary,
I hope that you have enjoyed your Christmas holidays. Is still Paris so wonderful in winter? Your brother and I travelled through Morocco during a week and were truly captivated by the landscapes, the kind hospitability of people and, above all, the splendorous nights at the desert. We have to talk about that in our next family meeting, ok?

You will be surprised that I write a letter instead of making a call as I usually do, but I prefer doing that on this occasion, so there is no possibility that your brother can hear what I need to explain to you. He is now stuck in a rut at work, his company has failed in the latest decisions about which the best option against its competitors could be, and the situation will be worse in a few months.

As you know better than I, John has a doubtful mind, although he has an excellent training in his speciality. But, prior to that, you need to know the latest news. A great change can be done in our life little before the next year will arrive. The most important agent of art design in Edinburgh has sent an interesting proposal for John as a middle manager, and he must decide soon about this offer. John is admirable as a designer, though he will always regret not finishing his PhD when he was younger. I have thought that he can obtain a PhD without any problem before the next year arrives, he is fully able to do it and I told him so.

What I am trying to say is that I need you to help me to convince him, because he doubts whether accepting this offer could be a good option, partially because he is worried about the situation of his company and I suppose that he has sit any confidence in his possibilities of achieving the PhD in a year either. On the other hand, if we are capable of convincing him that could be a good medicine. In this way he will have an important goal and his temper will surely change. Lately he has become the less talkative man that I have ever known, he is always going around the problems in the company, deadlines, meetings and does not remember how to have a little fun in his daily life.

Do you believe that I have become wholly mad or do you share my point of view? Can we have a coffee next Saturday at your home, and go on planning the best strategies to persuade our loved John to improve his future? Send me an email to make an appointment, if you agree with my purpose.

Kisses,
Carmen

5th writing - Television as such is bound to disappear

All of us have grown up in traditional television times, although this fact is varying exceptionally fast in the last generation. I still remember the first time I had the chance to watch a TV programme in a black and white device.

We were, as children, used to playing outdoors, but the prospect created by this strange and new thing gathered the entire troupe in front of a little black screen, waiting expectantly to see what would happen. Suddenly we saw a man, partially naked, talking to a monkey, jumping and screaming among the trees of the jungle. We were nearly six-years old and neither of us was really impressed by a stuff we could not play with, so we slowly returned to play in the open air.

However, the current value of television is totally different. It is recognized as an effective channel for communication, entertainment and information and has captivated the attention of billions of viewers around the world.

TV producers are intelligently adapting their offer according to the demand. The speed of changes has been increasing in the last fifteen years by the inrush of the net in this market. At this moment the offer is so huge that we are unlikely to be forced to watch a programme by a lack of choice.

Nonetheless, I doubt the oncoming future will be better for television companies, because if each person is now able to choose what they want to see and when they want to see their favourite programme, there's no reason for the existence of television as we have known it up until now, is a bad business and investors will turn their interest towards more fruitful results in the network.

Despite being a 47-year-old woman I will continue playing outdoors. And you, what are you going to do?