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.