More tips for the oral exams

Next week you'll have to do your oral exams. Probably you are already getting prepared for it but I'd like to give you some ideas to make it easier.

 

• Try to listen to some English everyday (music, news, films, radio, etc.); pay attention to the pronunciation and try to imitate some parts of the texts. Some songs are fantastic!

 

• Prepare different topics but don’t attempt to memorize everything because the moment you forget a word, then you’ll get stuck. Repeat the speech some times, making changes and trying to improve what you didn’t do well the previous time. If you know very well what you’re talking about, you won’t have any problem to improvise in case it’s necessary.

 

• Prepare some new vocabulary for each topic and use some of the new structures you studied this course. It will be a positive!

 

• Record your speech and listen to it later. Make sure you spot the mistakes and write them down. Next time you record it, pay special attention to these mistakes.

 

• Check the pronunciation of the words you don’t know. Don’t trust your logics. Remember that pronunciation rules in English have nothing to do with the Spanish ones.

 

• If you have a very strong Spanish accent, try to imitate Spanish people mocking English accent. It works!

 

• Don't speak too fast and pay attention not only to the right pronunciation but also to the accuracy: speak correctly. The exam is NOT a speed competition.

 

• For the individual topic you have just about 2 minutes to plan it and you'll have to speak about 4-5'. You should start with a brief introduction about the topic chosen, then only the ideas they propose (no time for more) and then a good conclusion. Connect the different parts with appropriate connectors and make sure you have covered all the points given.

 

• As for the dialogue you have to keep  a "spontaneous and natural" conversation with your partner for about 6-7 minutes. Use the techniques you have learnt to agree or disagree; interrupt each other in a polite way; express your point providing examples or supporting your partner's idea, etc. Don't do individual speeches because that's not the aim of the exercise. Just hold a discussion for some minutes.  

• Avoid repetitions of vocaburaly or structures. The more varied, the livelier.

 

• If possible, practise with your partner; it'll help you be more confident the day of the exam.

Keep calm and try to do your best. I'm sure you'll do a great job.
See you soon!

And today is the day

Hi all,

Today is the big day. I hope everybody is ready to show us how much you have improved this year.

Be confident and make sure you put into practice some of the new vocab, structures, expressions, etc. you have learnt.

Be clever and remember that if we don't see what you can do, we won't be able to evaluate it positively.


Leave time to reread what you write and make corrections. If there is something you have written that you don't understand, imagine what will happen when we read it ...

Be calm, you are ready to pass to the next course.

Eat a light meal and drink water. Don't have any chocolate. You'll get some in class!

Good luck!

One million students join calls for vote on Brexit deal

Protests ‘will dwarf action over tuition fees’ as May and Corbyn face mounting pressure

 Student organisations representing almost a million young people studying at UK universities and colleges are today joining forces to demand a referendum on any final Brexit deal, amid growing fears that leaving the EU will have a disastrous effect on their future prospects.
Predicting a young people’s revolt over the coming months, student unions – representing 980,000 students at 60 of the country’s leading universities and colleges – are writing to MPs in their areas this weekend, calling on them to back a “people’s vote” before a final Brexit deal can be implemented.
Student leaders said last night that they were planning action that would dwarf protests held in 2010 against the coalition government’s plans for student fees, and that they would not rest until they had been granted a say on their futures.
They argue in the letter to MPs that there are large numbers of young people – estimated at 1.4 million – who were too young to vote in the June 2016 EU referendum but who are now eligible to do so, and that this group deserves a say.
They also insist that promises made by the pro-Brexit groups during the campaign have not been kept and that only now, almost two years on from the narrow Leave vote, are most people beginning to understand what life outside the EU will look like.
“Because of all this, we call on our elected leaders to deliver on a people’s vote on the Brexit deal so that young people can once and for all have a say on their futures,” the letter says.
Among the university unions that have signed up are those representing students at Birmingham, Durham, Cambridge, Swansea, Leeds Beckett, Lancaster, St Andrews, Liverpool John Moore’s and Westminster. The joint letter and signatories were organised by the campaign group For our Future’s Sake (FFS).
Amatey Doku, deputy president of the National Union of Students, said: “When over 120 elected student officers, representing nearly a million young people, call for something with one clear voice, they need to be listened to. Students and young people overwhelmingly voted Remain and cannot see how the government can deliver a Brexit deal that works for them. As an elected representative body of 600 student unions, NUS is calling for a people’s vote on the Brexit deal.”
Both prime minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have refused to back putting any final deal to the public, insisting that the British people have delivered their verdict and want to leave the EU.
But with May’s cabinet split over what form of customs arrangements the UK should propose for the post-Brexit period, and Corbyn facing an internal revolt by Labour MPs and peers – as well as signs of unrest over Brexit within the membership – an increasing number of MPs are coming round to the view that another national vote may be needed.
Last night, Melantha Chittenden, the national chair of Labour Students, which has a membership of 30,000, put Corbyn under further pressure, insisting that he had to listen to, and represent, their views. “Students want the Labour party’s policy to reflect their views and that means having a proper debate and vote on Brexit at the Labour party conference this year.
“It’s wrong to think students only care about student-specific issues like Erasmus – they care passionately about staying in the customs union and retaining freedom of movement, they understand the rights and protections that the EU affords us all and will do anything to defend that. That’s why young people voted Remain and it’s why we should get a say on the terms of the final deal.”
Meanwhile, there were growing signs that some supporters of the grassroots Labour campaign organisation Momentum will push for a shift in party policy on Brexit at the Labour conference in the autumn.
Michael Chessum, the former national treasurer of Momentum who is now national organiser of the leftwing anti-Brexit campaign group Another Europe is Possible, told the Observer: “The vast majority of Labour members – and the vast majority of Jeremy supporters – backed Remain in the referendum and haven’t changed their minds.”
Chessum said it was wrong for Corbyn supporters to argue that remaining a member of the EU would prevent the party implementing radical leftwing policies such as renationalisation. “The idea that EU rules will prevent us from enacting a radical programme in government is a fiction. There is nothing in our 2017 manifesto that could not be done, or is not already being done, within the EU – and a Corbyn government could lead the charge against state aid rules and liberalisation in the medium term. On the other hand, if we get into government to find a crashed economy, a bonfire of rights and regulations, and a series of trade deals which bind us to the American model, we’ll really struggle to fulfil our promises.” He said he expected “a big push” at the Labour conference for a referendum on the final deal.
New polling by Opinium, meanwhile, shows that Labour supporters are in favour of a people’s vote by 69% to 18%. The 18-34 age group support a people’s vote by a margin of 65% to 22%. Overall, 53% of the country supports the public having a vote on any final deal that the government agrees with the EU, compared to just 31% who oppose.
This week, cabinet ministers will make a fresh attempt to break the deadlock over the customs arrangements they will propose to the EU as part of the final deal. In a message that signalled her determination to press ahead with a hard Brexit the prime minister said last night that people should trust her to deliver on Brexit.
“I will ensure that we take back control of our borders. The public want their own government to decide on the number of people coming into Britain from across the European Union and that is what we are going to do,” May said. “I will ensure that we take back control of our money. We have agreed a settlement with the European Union and the days of vast contributions from taxpayers to the EU budget are coming to an end.
“So Brexit means there will be billions of pounds that we used to send to Brussels which we will now be able to spend on domestic priorities, including our National Health Service.”

Tobby Helm, The Guardian 

St 12 Mat 2018

ORAL EXAMS - FIRST GROUP

ORAL EXAMS

28TH MAY (MONDAY)

16.00	CÁNDIDA	NICOLÁS
16.45	ANA V.	MARÍA H.
17.15	VIRGINIA C.	OTILIA
17.45	TERESA G.	PAULA
18.30	SANTIAGO	ALMUDENA
19.00	INÉS	JORGE
19.30	ESTHER N.	RAQUEL F.

ORAL EXAMS

29TH MAY (TUESDAY)

16.00	BERTA	JOSÉ
16.45	VIRGINIA J.	RAQUEL
17.15	VICKY	ARANTXA
17.45	TERESA R.	LUZ
18.30	MANUEL	JAVIER
19.00	ANA G.	PATRICIA
19.30 20.00	MARÍA O. PEDRO G.	ANDRÉS

Cancer: 'If exercise was a pill it would be prescribed to every patient'

Leading Australian researchers back world-first campaign for activity to be part of any treatment 

Exercise should be prescribed to all cancer patients, and not to do so would be harmful, some of Australia’s leading experts on cancer have warned.
The Clinical Oncology Society of Australia has launched its position statement on the role of exercise alongside surgery, chemotherapy or radiation in cancer care.
Endorsed by a group of 25 influential health and cancer organisations, including Cancer Council Australia, it is the first researcher-led push anywhere in the world for exercise to be an essential component of treatment.

The lead author, Prof Prue Cormie from the Australian Catholic University, said the statement was based on “indisputable” evidence. “Really we are at the stage where the science is telling us that withholding exercise from cancer patients can be harmful,” Cormie said.
“Exercise is the best medicine someone with cancer can take in addition to their standard cancer treatments. That’s because we know now that people who exercise regularly experience fewer and less severe treatment side-effects; cancer-related fatigue, mental distress, quality of life.”
They also have a lower risk of their cancer coming back or dying from the disease, Cormie said.

“If the effects of exercise could be encapsulated in a pill, it would be prescribed to every cancer patient worldwide and viewed as a major breakthrough in cancer treatment,” she writes for the Conversation. “If we had a pill called exercise it would be demanded by cancer patients, prescribed by every cancer specialist, and subsidised by government.”
Gone are the days of wrapping cancer patients in “cotton wool”, according to Dr David Speakman, chief medical officer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

“Our attitudes to treating cancer, what it takes to give people their best chance at survival, have to change. All cancer patients will benefit from an exercise prescription.’
Nicole Cooper, 33, was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer last year, and believes one reason she is still alive is the exercise regime she followed while undergoing treatment. “When I received a terminal cancer diagnosis, I was prescribed two potentially lifesaving cancer treatments: chemotherapy and exercise,” she said.

“A year later, I am in remission, having taken just as much exercise as I have chemotherapy.”
Cormie said the evidence-based guidelines recommended people with cancer be as physically active as their current ability and conditions allowed. For significant health benefits, they should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise weekly and two to three resistance exercise sessions (such as weightlifting).

“These recommendations should be tailored to the individual’s abilities to minimise the risk of complications and maximise the benefits.”

The Guardian with Australian Associated Press

7th May 2018

The key to the last passive voice exercises

Funny and sad!

Key to 2 more reading comprehensions

Here you are!

Thursday 5th May: it's our Book's Day

Tomorrow we'll spend part of the class talking about the books you chose and read. Don't forget to take them with you to show your classmates.

We'll increase the section of 'Recommended Books' thanks to your contribution.

Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles

The breakthrough, spurred by the discovery of plastic-eating bugs at a Japanese dump, could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis



Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles – by accident. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling for the first time the full recycling of bottles.
The new research was spurred by the discovery in 2016 of the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic, at a waste dump in Japan. Scientists have now revealed the detailed structure of the crucial enzyme produced by the bug.
The international team then tweaked the enzyme to see how it had evolved, but tests showed they had inadvertently made the molecule even better at breaking down the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic used for soft drink bottles. “What actually turned out was we improved the enzyme, which was a bit of a shock,” said Prof John McGeehan, at the University of Portsmouth, UK, who led the research. “It’s great and a real finding.”

The mutant enzyme takes a few days to start breaking down the plastic – far faster than the centuries it takes in the oceans. But the researchers are optimistic this can be speeded up even further and become a viable large-scale process.
“What we are hoping to do is use this enzyme to turn this plastic back into its original components, so we can literally recycle it back to plastic,” said McGeehan. “It means we won’t need to dig up any more oil and, fundamentally, it should reduce the amount of plastic in the environment.”
About 1m plastic bottles are sold each minute around the globe and, with just 14% recycled, many end up in the oceans where they have polluted even the remotest parts, harming marine life and potentially people who eat seafood. “It is incredibly resistant to degradation. Some of those images are horrific,” said McGeehan. “It is one of these wonder materials that has been made a little bit too well.”
However, currently even those bottles that are recycled can only be turned into opaque fibres for clothing or carpets. The new enzyme indicates a way to recycle clear plastic bottles back into clear plastic bottles, which could slash the need to produce new plastic.
“You are always up against the fact that oil is cheap, so virgin PET is cheap,” said McGeehan. “It is so easy for manufacturers to generate more of that stuff, rather than even try to recycle. But I believe there is a public driver here: perception is changing so much that companies are starting to look at how they can properly recycle these.”
                                                                             Damian Carrington The Guardian, April 2018